University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. Lowers Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. decreased its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 42.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,100 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 4,560 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co.'s holdings in Linde were worth $2,554,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,128,233,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Linde by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $468,360,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 56,467.9% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $459,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,041 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $459.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $451.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $447.70. 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 plc has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during 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%. Linde's quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three investment 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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