Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Atria Investments Inc

Atria Investments Inc reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,796 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,128 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Linde were worth $12,474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. grew its position in Linde by 85.2% in the 4th quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC grew its position in Linde by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Linde by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,021 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Linde by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $625,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $468.25 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $443.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $455.16. The stock has a market cap of $221.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.40, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 over the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on LIN. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

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.