Gradient Investments LLC lessened its holdings in Linde plc (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,605 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 89 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $524,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in Linde by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,653,204 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,938,416,000 after acquiring an additional 689,308 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in Linde by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,135,152 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,487,217,000 after buying an additional 1,061,754 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Linde by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,587,362 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,315,068,000 after buying an additional 488,655 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Linde by 16.1% during the 2nd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,078,119 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,460,112,000 after buying an additional 703,724 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in Linde by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,273,245 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,152,024,000 after buying an additional 479,117 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 4,060 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.17, for a total transaction of $1,462,290.20. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,036,953.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Linde from $370.00 to $378.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Linde from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Linde from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Linde from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. Finally, HSBC increased their price objective on Linde from $375.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Friday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $370.67.

Linde Stock Performance

NYSE:LIN opened at $330.49 on Friday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $334.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $315.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.65 billion, a PE ratio of 40.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $262.47 and a twelve month high of $362.74.

Linde (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported $3.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $7.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.49 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 14.95% and a net margin of 12.43%. Linde's revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.77 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 13.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 14th will be paid a $1.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.17. This represents a $5.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.82%.

Linde Profile

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Linde Plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It designs and builds equipment that produces industrial gases and offers customers a wide range of gas production and processing services such as olefin plants, natural gas plants, air separation plants, hydrogen and synthesis gas plants and other types of plants.

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