Van Cleef Asset Management Inc Sells 50 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Van Cleef Asset Management Inc reduced its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 50,364 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises 2.9% of Van Cleef Asset Management Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Linde were worth $20,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 122.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 42.2% in the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several research reports. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,271,882.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded down $0.49 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $443.83. The company had a trading volume of 1,390,610 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,217,092. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $213.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $455.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $420.11. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $350.60 and a 1-year high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.13%.

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.