New York Life Investment Management LLC Has $29.63 Million Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

New York Life Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 446 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $29,633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wrapmanager Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Concord Asset Management LLC VA raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,999,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,732,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 2,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $841,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $461.40 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $439.02 and a 200-day moving average of $454.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $219.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.90, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,285 shares of company stock valued at $7,423,986. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LIN. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

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.