Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock: Insider Matthew White Sells 86,833 Shares

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) CFO Matthew White sold 86,833 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total transaction of $45,258,227.93. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 50,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,442,546.93. This represents a 63.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded down $3.51 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $517.72. 1,135,783 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,313,539. The company has a market cap of $237.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $548.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $485.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $493.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.52 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $9.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.16 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.34% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.21 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Linde by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 18,212 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares during the last quarter. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 8.3% during the third quarter. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. now owns 4,735 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,247,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth about $4,844,000. Point Windward Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth approximately $712,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth approximately $3,811,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $549.00 to $568.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered Linde from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their price target on Linde from $577.00 to $591.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Linde from $532.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $553.05.

Linde Company Profile

Linde plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It produces and supplies atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium and specialty gases. The company also designs and builds equipment and facilities used to produce and process gases.

Linde serves customers across industries including healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics and energy. Its operations span the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

The company was formed in 2018 through the merger of Germany’s Linde AG and U.S.-based Praxair, bringing together businesses with long histories in industrial gases and engineering.