Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) is Cambridge Financial Group Inc.’s 3rd Largest Position

Cambridge Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,616 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,589 shares during the period. Linde makes up about 3.8% of Cambridge Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Cambridge Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $7,646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its holdings in Linde by 2.6% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 6,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,345,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 1,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 12.7% during the third quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 2.1% during the third quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 1,738 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $647,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Veracity Capital LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 2.5% in the third quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 2,542 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 is available at this link. In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $460.15.

Linde Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of LIN traded up $3.98 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $423.60. The stock had a trading volume of 2,657,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,803,659. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $350.60 and a 12-month high of $477.71. The firm has a market cap of $204.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $455.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $422.69.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

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.