Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 63,113 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio trimmed its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 20.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 239,875 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 63,113 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned 0.05% of Linde worth $100,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management raised its stake in shares of Linde by 34.2% in the fourth quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LIN. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $503.11.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN traded down $3.57 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $464.38. The stock had a trading volume of 695,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,949,256. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $451.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $447.64. The firm has a market cap of $218.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.10, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

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.