Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $310.21 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 755,351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 49,957 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises 0.5% of Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.16% of Linde worth $310,208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $203,000. Dohj LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $501,000. Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 3,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,619,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 310.0% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $353,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded down $0.65 on Friday, reaching $443.18. The stock had a trading volume of 1,583,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,507,545. The company has a market cap of $213.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $350.60 and a 1-year high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $456.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $420.75.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.16 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Seaport Res Ptn cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Linde Company 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.