CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC Lowers Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 823,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 18,991 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC owned about 0.17% of Linde worth $345,760,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 1,160.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its holdings in Linde by 144.8% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup reduced their price target on 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $459.11 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $456.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $454.22. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $217.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.