Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,863 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 863 shares during the period. Linde makes up about 0.9% of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $14,729,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 122.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, RVW Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $446.11. 540,909 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,234,188. The company has a fifty day moving average of $453.35 and a 200 day moving average of $417.76. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.43, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LIN. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $456.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.