American Trust Decreases Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

American Trust lowered its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 75.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,618 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 10,862 shares during the quarter. American Trust’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,725,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.9% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 13,239 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,809,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 7,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,422,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 56.8% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,378 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,497,000 after buying an additional 1,948 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in Linde by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 5,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,520,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Timber Creek Capital Management LLC increased its position in Linde by 1.3% during the second quarter. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 9,936 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,360,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock opened at $438.50 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $208.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $396.07 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $462.19 and its 200-day moving average is $455.24.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.63 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at $102,832.22. The trade was a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 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.