Calamos Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Calamos Advisors LLC cut its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 244,347 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 43,492 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC owned about 0.05% of Linde worth $100,356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $1,600,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $1,480,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $2,045,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd grew its position in shares of Linde by 156.3% in the 4th quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 10,121 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,146,000 after buying an additional 6,172 shares during the period. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,679,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $0.36 during trading on Thursday, hitting $446.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,070,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,256,902. The company has a 50-day moving average of $453.35 and a 200-day moving average of $417.76. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $214.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 44.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $510.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Linde from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, 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 research report on Monday, January 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $456.79.

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.