Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Cambridge Trust Co.

Cambridge Trust Co. reduced its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 100,171 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,423 shares during the period. Linde makes up approximately 1.7% of Cambridge Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Cambridge Trust Co.’s holdings in Linde were worth $41,141,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 122.6% during the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, RVW Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN traded down $0.96 during trading on Thursday, reaching $445.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 530,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,249,708. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $452.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $417.56. 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 $214.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.46, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.