Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Has $446,000 Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 64.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,087 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,951 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,919,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,182,870,000 after acquiring an additional 354,506 shares during the period. Winder Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth $1,892,774,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Linde by 2.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,081,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,891,976,000 after purchasing an additional 123,174 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Linde by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,960,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,102,475,000 after buying an additional 75,000 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,766,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,030,146,000 after buying an additional 9,541 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on LIN. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde 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 directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $446.97 on Tuesday. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $454.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $419.43. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $350.60 and a 1-year high of $477.71. The company has a market cap of $215.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.47, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results 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. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.16 EPS. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 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.