Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. trimmed its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,185 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,265,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Wrapmanager Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,999,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,732,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Austin Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $460.31 on Tuesday. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $217.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $449.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $454.70.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. On average, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.