Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 63,113 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 20.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 239,875 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 63,113 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned about 0.05% of Linde worth $100,428,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 1,160.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $459.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $451.31 and a 200-day moving average of $447.70. 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 stock has a market cap of $216.06 billion, a PE ratio of 33.73, a P/E/G 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.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.11.

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.