Legal & General Group Plc Sells 787,518 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 23.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,538,159 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 787,518 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,062,569,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 56,467.9% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,041 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Linde by 2,293.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $327,593,000 after buying an additional 749,763 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $308,251,000. Finally, Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $306,585,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Trading Down 6.3 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $437.96 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.12 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.25 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $458.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $453.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. As a group, equities 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 was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LIN. Citigroup decreased their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently 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.