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

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC lowered its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,602 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 189 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,089,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its position in Linde by 144.8% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 38.6% in the fourth quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 97 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Linde Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of LIN opened at $462.06 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $445.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $455.24. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $218.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,832.22. The trade was a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.