Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 163 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lowered its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,016 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 163 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,292,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LIN. FMR LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $5,182,870,000 after purchasing an additional 354,506 shares during the period. Winder Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at about $1,892,774,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,081,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,891,976,000 after purchasing an additional 123,174 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.6% during the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,960,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,102,475,000 after purchasing an additional 75,000 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,766,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,030,146,000 after purchasing an additional 9,541 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of several research reports. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $443.18 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $456.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $420.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Linde plc has a one year low of $350.60 and a one year high of $477.71. The company has a market cap of $213.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.17, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the firm earned $3.16 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

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.