Thrive Wealth Management LLC Sells 149 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Thrive Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 149 shares during the period. Thrive Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,089,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Linde by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,834,631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after buying an additional 30,750 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,857,741,000 after buying an additional 554,480 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,128,233,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.11.

Linde Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ LIN opened at $473.77 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $452.28 and a 200-day moving average of $448.21. The firm has a market cap of $223.01 billion, a PE ratio of 34.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.75 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Linde 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.