OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Has $137.78 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp cut its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 34.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 329,099 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 175,284 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises about 1.2% of OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp owned 0.07% of Linde worth $137,784,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 13,888 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,815,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its holdings in Linde by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 29,805 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $12,478,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 193.9% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 47,278 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $19,794,000 after purchasing an additional 31,194 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC now owns 1,054 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $441,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gen Wealth Partners Inc grew its position in shares of Linde by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,745 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $731,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on LIN. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded 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, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.11.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Up 0.8%

NASDAQ LIN traded up $3.55 on Friday, reaching $457.77. The stock had a trading volume of 1,845,722 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,942,665. 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 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $450.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $447.89. The company has a market capitalization of $215.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. 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 in the previous year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

About Linde

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.