Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Has $92.57 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 221,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,276 shares during the quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $92,569,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,321,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $972,132,000 after purchasing an additional 6,734 shares during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Eagle Global Advisors LLC increased its position in Linde by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 17,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,185,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Concentric Capital Strategies LP lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 137.8% in the 4th quarter. Concentric Capital Strategies LP now owns 19,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,260,000 after acquiring an additional 11,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corton Capital Inc. bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $281,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.11.

Linde Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $449.66 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $211.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.04, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $452.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $448.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.75 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.57%.

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.