TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Sells 730 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. cut its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,751 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 730 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $17,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $2,901,853,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,957,604 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Linde by 2,293.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $327,593,000 after purchasing an additional 749,763 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $308,251,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $498.00.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $1.13 on Friday, reaching $448.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,865,299 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,950,652. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $212.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.95, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $454.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $450.24. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

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.