Linde PLC $LIN Stock Sold by Cornerstone Advisors LLC

Cornerstone Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 35,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,957 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $17,072,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Compass Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $50,461,000. Valmark Advisers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $2,009,000. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $3,571,000. Finally, PFC Capital Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. PFC Capital Group Inc. now owns 2,767 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,313,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on LIN shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $580.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $574.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $553.05.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 86,833 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total transaction of $45,258,227.93. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 50,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,442,546.93. This trade represents a 63.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total transaction of $4,851,808.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. This trade represents a 29.69% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $526.06 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company’s 50 day moving average is $490.20 and its 200 day moving average is $496.20. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $548.20. The company has a market cap of $241.51 billion, a PE ratio of 34.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.67.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.52 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $9.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.16 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.34% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.21 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.52%.

About Linde

Linde plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It produces and supplies atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium and specialty gases. The company also designs and builds equipment and facilities used to produce and process gases. Linde serves customers across industries including healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics and energy. Its operations span the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.