Agate Pass Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Agate Pass Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,164 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 30 shares during the quarter. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $906,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 7.2% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 71,549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,396,000 after buying an additional 4,805 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its position in Linde by 12.5% during the second quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 1,569 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $688,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 4.5% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,849 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,566,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 2.8% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 725,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $318,332,000 after acquiring an additional 20,060 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup cut their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $495.75.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $6.39 during trading on Monday, hitting $420.54. 752,168 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,221,750. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $439.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $453.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $200.24 billion, a PE ratio of 31.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. Linde’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.63 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

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.