Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC Sells 947 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,962 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 947 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $4,171,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew 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 worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $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 currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $503.11.

Linde Trading Up 1.8%

LIN stock traded up $8.25 on Thursday, reaching $454.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,278,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,940,948. The firm has a market cap of $213.81 billion, a PE ratio of 33.37, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $451.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $448.04. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.75 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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 paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio 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.