Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Shelton Capital Management

Shelton Capital Management lessened its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 75,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 219 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises about 0.8% of Shelton Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Shelton Capital Management’s holdings in Linde were worth $31,777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,598,551,000 after acquiring an additional 30,750 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,901,853,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Linde by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,818,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,598,737,000 after purchasing an additional 265,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 89,408 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position 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 worth $898,188,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN 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 quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $457.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $453.54. The firm has a market cap of $201.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.29, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.