Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. Decreases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. lowered its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 36.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 977 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 557 shares during the quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Linde by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Linde by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,164 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Linde by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 555 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $233,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN traded down $4.55 on Friday, hitting $465.98. 1,414,599 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,968,387. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The business's fifty day moving average is $455.26 and its 200 day moving average is $449.12. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 43.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on LIN. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $510.40.

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.