Monarch Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Monarch Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,153 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 140 shares during the period. Monarch Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $901,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Smith Salley Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Linde by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 46,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,402,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $598,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 28.1% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,562 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,260,000 after purchasing an additional 2,755 shares in the last quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC now owns 1,326 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $555,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shelton Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $653,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $436.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $207.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day moving average of $436.85 and a 200 day moving average of $452.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $396.07 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

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.