Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Has $387.59 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership reduced its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 61.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 925,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,472,766 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned 0.19% of Linde worth $387,588,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised 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 valued at $1,567,958,000 after buying an additional 2,592,682 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised 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 valued at $459,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,041 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2,293.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $327,593,000 after acquiring an additional 749,763 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $308,251,000. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value 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 $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $461.43 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $218.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company’s 50-day moving average is $454.99 and its 200 day moving average is $454.24. Linde plc has a one year low of $410.69 and a one year high of $487.49.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

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.