Ledyard National Bank Increases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ledyard National Bank lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 19.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the quarter. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Linde were worth $883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $575,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Seven Mile Advisory increased its position in Linde by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 2,573 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded down $4.39 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $440.68. 621,500 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,178,370. The stock has a market capitalization of $212.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $456.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $421.82. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $350.60 and a twelve month high of $477.71.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $460.00.

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.