Cerity Partners LLC Lowers Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cerity Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 146,251 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 6,519 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $62,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $252,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 163.1% during the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,090,000 after buying an additional 4,017 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Linde by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 59,184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,647,000 after buying an additional 10,643 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management grew its stake in Linde by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 577 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 40,876 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,492,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde 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 value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective 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. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $425.86 on Tuesday. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.39 billion, a PE ratio of 31.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $457.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $453.54.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. 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.