SVB Wealth LLC Reduces Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

SVB Wealth LLC decreased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 10.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 411 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,387,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 122.6% in the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, RVW Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

Linde stock opened at $446.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $453.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $417.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.43, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. Linde’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.16 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $456.79.

Linde 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.