Donaldson Capital Management LLC Has $517,000 Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 48.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,043 shares during the quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $517,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ziegler Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at $219,000. Capital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $233,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its position in Linde by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 10,703 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,985,000 after acquiring an additional 921 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in Linde by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 3,631 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 17,713 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,595,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock traded down $0.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $443.18. 1,583,773 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,507,545. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business has a 50-day moving average of $456.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $420.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.43 billion, a PE ratio of 35.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $350.60 and a 52 week high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.16 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at $26,271,882.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $456.79.

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.