Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Calamos Advisors LLC

Calamos Advisors LLC reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 244,347 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 43,492 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $100,356,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth $2,409,138,000. Winder Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $1,892,774,000. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 888.7% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,741,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,329,889,000 after acquiring an additional 3,363,112 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 55.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,457,759 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,780,213,000 after buying an additional 1,956,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 450.3% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,141,656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $698,566,000 after buying an additional 1,752,456 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $446.43. 1,060,195 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,256,898. The company has a market capitalization of $214.99 billion, a PE ratio of 35.46, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $452.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $417.56. Linde plc has a one year low of $350.60 and a one year high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Linde Company 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.