Russell Investments Group Ltd. Cuts Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 755,351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 49,957 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up 0.5% of Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Linde were worth $310,208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 122.6% during the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group purchased a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 310.0% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE boosted its stake in Linde by 42.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Mizuho upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price target on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $0.65 on Friday, reaching $443.18. 1,583,773 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,507,545. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $456.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $420.75. The firm has a market cap of $213.43 billion, a PE ratio of 35.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.16 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly 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 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde 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.