Janus Henderson Group PLC lessened its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 21.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,499,353 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 419,417 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 0.31% of Linde worth $627,713,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Linde Stock Down 1.0%
Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $4.70 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $445.97. 1,941,349 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,939,594. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $451.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $448.04. The company has a market capitalization of $209.93 billion, a PE ratio of 32.77, a P/E/G 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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. Linde's quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Linde Announces Dividend
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 issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Argus upgraded 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 report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.11.
Read Our Latest Research Report on LIN
About Linde
(
Free Report)
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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