State of Michigan Retirement System Sells 3,000 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

State of Michigan Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 134,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Linde were worth $56,187,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wrapmanager Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the 4th 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. Concord Asset Management LLC VA boosted its position in shares of Linde by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Fourpath Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company increased its stake in Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 2,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $841,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders sold a total of 16,285 shares of company stock valued at $7,423,986 in the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Linde Trading Down 1.0 %

LIN opened at $462.25 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $441.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $455.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.