Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 61,650 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lessened its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 33.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 120,224 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 61,650 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $55,981,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Linde by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,598,551,000 after buying an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Linde by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,857,741,000 after buying an additional 554,480 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,128,233,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on LIN. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $518.80.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock traded down $1.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $468.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,326,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,975,504. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $463.44 and a 200-day moving average of $452.65. The firm has a market cap of $220.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. The business's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

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.