American International Group Inc. Sells 957 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

American International Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 148,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 957 shares during the quarter. American International Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $60,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Zeno Equity Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,886,000. Syon Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 6,254 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,569,000 after buying an additional 943 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 1,907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $783,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 126.1% during the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 5,117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,101,000 after buying an additional 2,854 shares during the period. Finally, Cim LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $234,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $2.85 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $436.95. 1,396,066 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,596,934. The company has a market cap of $210.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.91. Linde plc has a one year low of $358.37 and a one year high of $477.71. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $437.57 and a 200 day moving average of $431.64.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.42 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price target on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $468.83.

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.