Alpha Family Trust Sells 645 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Alpha Family Trust reduced its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 35.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,160 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 645 shares during the quarter. Alpha Family Trust's holdings in Linde were worth $486,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. grew its stake in Linde by 85.2% in the fourth quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,092,000 after buying an additional 1,723 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Linde by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $898,188,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in Linde by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $88,505,000 after buying an additional 1,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $625,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $498.00.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $454.95 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $453.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $449.71. The stock has a market cap of $215.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.43, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.75 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.

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