Insider Selling: Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) VP Sells $4,851,808.50 in Stock

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total value of $4,851,808.50. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. This trade represents a 29.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $13.95 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $525.50. 955,054 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,306,934. The stock has a market capitalization of $241.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $484.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $493.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.86. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.52 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 19.34%. The business had revenue of $9.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.21 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Linde from $577.00 to $591.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Evercore lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $515.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $532.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $553.05.

Institutional Trading of Linde

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sanders Morris Harris LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth about $847,000. Carderock Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,498,000. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,875,000. First Financial Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,034,000. Finally, Hikari Power Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $20,965,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Company Profile

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It produces and distributes atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide and specialty gases. The company serves customers through packaged gases, bulk deliveries, on-site production and pipeline systems.

Linde’s products and services support a broad range of industries, including healthcare, food and beverage, manufacturing, chemicals, energy, refining, electronics and metals.