Lincoln National Corp Sells 41 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Lincoln National Corp trimmed its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 41 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 122.6% during the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Addison Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 310.0% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Linde by 347.6% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $427.71 on Thursday. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $350.60 and a fifty-two week high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $205.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average of $454.81 and a 200 day moving average of $424.19.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Linde 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 value 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 77,948 shares of company stock worth $35,687,605 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Mizuho lifted their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. HSBC decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. UBS Group lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $464.69.

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.