Stone Point Wealth LLC Sells 205 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Stone Point Wealth LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 205 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises about 1.3% of Stone Point Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Stone Point Wealth LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,984,243 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,103,185,000 after purchasing an additional 372,780 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.6% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Linde by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,587,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,315,068,000 after buying an additional 488,655 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $2,409,138,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Linde by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,508,547 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,480,277,000 after buying an additional 479,188 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 over the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LIN. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $448.93.

Linde Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $3.73 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $457.94. 1,447,902 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,326,182. The firm has a market cap of $220.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $447.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $414.11. 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 1-year low of $350.60 and a 1-year high of $477.71.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

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.