Unisphere Establishment Reduces Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Unisphere Establishment decreased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 415,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 10,500 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for about 1.5% of Unisphere Establishment's holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Unisphere Establishment owned about 0.09% of Linde worth $173,748,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its stake in Linde by 144.8% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde 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 transaction, the director now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % 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 in the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded up $6.90 during trading on Friday, reaching $454.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,548,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,939,231. The business's fifty day moving average price is $453.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $449.71. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $215.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.75 EPS. The firm's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.