Union Savings Bank Reduces Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Union Savings Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 131 shares during the period. Union Savings Bank’s holdings in Linde were worth $616,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Linde by 39.8% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,202 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,844,000 after buying an additional 1,196 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Linde by 1.0% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 120,352 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,812,000 after buying an additional 1,186 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp increased its holdings in Linde by 7.6% in the second quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 2,180 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $957,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 30,250.0% in the second quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 5,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,397,000 after acquiring an additional 5,445 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on LIN. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho increased their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $495.75.

Linde Stock Up 0.8 %

LIN stock opened at $436.00 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $436.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $452.97. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $396.07 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $207.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average price 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 in the company, valued at $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.