Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 9,406 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas reduced its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 264,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,406 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.06% of Linde worth $110,616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its stake in Linde by 144.8% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 0.2 %

LIN opened at $459.75 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $217.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $451.32 and a 200 day moving average of $454.61.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

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.