Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp Sells 183 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp decreased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 183 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,221,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 372.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,567,958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,592,682 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 56,467.9% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $459,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,041 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Linde by 2,293.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $327,593,000 after purchasing an additional 749,763 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $308,251,000. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its position in shares of Linde by 467.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 827,979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $374,780,000 after acquiring an additional 682,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LIN. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $468.77 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $221.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $444.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $455.31.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

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.