Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $77.83 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 45.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 189,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 157,254 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Linde were worth $77,832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $575,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 1.9% in 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 holdings in Linde by 4.2% in the third quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 1.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on LIN shares. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $446.30. The company had a trading volume of 1,831,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,488,572. The company has a market capitalization of $214.93 billion, a PE ratio of 35.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $453.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $418.61. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $350.60 and a twelve month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.16 EPS. Linde’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $1.39 per share. 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 1.25%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Linde 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.