Prudential PLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Prudential PLC lessened its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,057 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,761 shares during the period. Prudential PLC's holdings in Linde were worth $5,467,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,598,551,000 after buying an additional 30,750 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $2,901,853,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,300,092,000 after acquiring an additional 89,408 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Linde by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its position in Linde by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,680,279 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $703,482,000 after purchasing an additional 49,374 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 over the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Stock Up 2.3 %

Linde stock traded up $9.95 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $441.83. The stock had a trading volume of 3,342,916 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,938,062. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $456.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $452.01. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $208.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.46, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. This is a positive change from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

Linde 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.