Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Has $99.73 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc cut its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 238,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,742 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned 0.05% of Linde worth $99,730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 1,160.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $452.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Linde plc has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $213.03 billion, a PE ratio of 33.25, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $452.15 and a 200-day moving average of $448.55.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.75 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LIN. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.11.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.