Sandhill Capital Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sandhill Capital Partners LLC reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 19.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 104,436 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 24,540 shares during the period. Linde accounts for about 3.6% of Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $42,893,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $575,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Seven Mile Advisory grew its position in shares of Linde by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 2,573 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of LIN stock traded down $0.49 on Thursday, reaching $443.83. 1,390,610 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,217,092. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $455.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $420.11. The company has a market capitalization of $213.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.26, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $350.60 and a twelve month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Seaport Res Ptn cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Linde Company Profile

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.