Strs Ohio Sells 7,386 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Strs Ohio reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 180,070 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 7,386 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio's holdings in Linde were worth $73,956,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 122.6% during the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth $29,000. Halpern Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 309.5% during the third quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 86 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of LIN stock traded down $5.59 on Friday, hitting $447.41. The stock had a trading volume of 1,976,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,267,283. The business has a 50 day moving average of $450.62 and a 200 day moving average of $416.34. The stock has a market cap of $215.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $350.60 and a 12-month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. This is a positive change from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Linde from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Linde from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.