Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Decreases Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,026 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 70 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,035,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $48,260,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 3,681 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 744,711 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $311,788,000 after acquiring an additional 11,252 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 2,775 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,162,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sit Investment Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 32,315 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,529,000 after purchasing an additional 4,968 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, 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 transaction 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 represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LIN. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup cut their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Trading Down 6.3 %

Linde stock opened at $437.96 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $207.12 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.25 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $458.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $453.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

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.