Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Decreases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lessened its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 732,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 76,779 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Linde were worth $306,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its stake in shares of Linde by 144.8% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Trading Up 0.9 %

LIN opened at $461.43 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $454.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $454.24. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $218.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, 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 valued at $5,603,843 in the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

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.