Moreno Evelyn V Lowers Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Moreno Evelyn V trimmed its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 35.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,868 shares during the period. Linde accounts for approximately 1.4% of Moreno Evelyn V’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Moreno Evelyn V’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,916,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Provence Wealth Management Group boosted its holdings in Linde by 655.7% during the 4th quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $245,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the period. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,600,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,480,000. Finally, McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 16,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,636,000 after buying an additional 2,448 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,948 shares of company stock worth $35,687,605 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $468.83.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $1.89 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $432.90. The stock had a trading volume of 546,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,117,510. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $448.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $428.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $208.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $350.60 and a twelve month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.