National Bank of Canada FI Has $13.44 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

National Bank of Canada FI lowered its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 42.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 32,818 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 24,329 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Linde were worth $13,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC grew its stake in Linde by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 1,161 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $209,000. Provence Wealth Management Group boosted its stake in Linde by 655.7% during the 4th quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Linde by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,642 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $674,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC increased its position in Linde by 150.0% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 250 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho increased their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. HSBC decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $464.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 77,948 shares of company stock valued at $35,687,605. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $427.71 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $454.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $424.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $205.59 billion, a PE ratio of 33.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a one year low of $350.60 and a one year high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 43.13%.

About Linde

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.