Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 22,380 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Federated Hermes Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 24.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 22,380 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $28,924,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,409,138,000. Winder Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth $1,892,774,000. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 888.7% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,741,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,329,889,000 after acquiring an additional 3,363,112 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Linde by 55.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,457,759 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,780,213,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956,394 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 450.3% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,141,656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $698,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,752,456 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LIN. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $446.30 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $453.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $418.61. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $350.60 and a 1-year high of $477.71. The stock has a market cap of $214.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.42, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

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.