CNB Bank Sells 80 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

CNB Bank decreased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 823 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 80 shares during the quarter. CNB Bank’s holdings in Linde were worth $338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Linde by 1.9% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,984,243 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,103,185,000 after purchasing an additional 372,780 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 2.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,919,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,182,870,000 after purchasing an additional 354,506 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.0% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,587,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,315,068,000 after buying an additional 488,655 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $2,409,138,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 7.9% during the second quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,508,547 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,480,277,000 after buying an additional 479,188 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $446.30. 1,831,208 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,488,572. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $453.89 and a 200 day moving average of $418.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The company has a market cap of $214.93 billion, a PE ratio of 35.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.16 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate 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 given a dividend of $1.39 per share. 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. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.