Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS Sells 120 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS cut its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,623 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 120 shares during the period. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS’s holdings in Linde were worth $774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of Linde by 4.4% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,215,000 after buying an additional 2,312 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 16.8% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 9,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,580,000 after buying an additional 1,383 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 196,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,457,000 after buying an additional 1,811 shares during the period. Atom Investors LP grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 19.8% during the third quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 12,269 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,851,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.7% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,021 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded down $2.99 on Friday, reaching $435.51. 507,427 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,852,798. 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 has a 50-day simple moving average of $462.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $455.24. The stock has a market cap of $207.37 billion, a PE ratio of 33.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 42.22%.

Linde Company 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.