Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Washington Trust Advisors Inc.

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 31 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 1.9% during the third quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory increased its stake 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 buying an additional 26 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas increased its stake in Linde by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 411 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $153,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $465,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 approximately $26,058,131.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value 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 available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, 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 research note on Monday, January 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $448.93.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock traded down $1.56 during trading on Thursday, hitting $464.67. 882,008 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,398,328. The stock has a market cap of $223.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $436.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $409.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a one year low of $348.38 and a one year high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.16 EPS. Equities analysts expect 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 will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. 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.