Mendota Financial Group LLC Sells 51 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Mendota Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 21.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 51 shares during the quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $79,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,217,197,000 after purchasing an additional 154,792 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,513,551,000 after purchasing an additional 15,187 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 372.8% in the 3rd 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. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Linde by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,365,647,000 after buying an additional 218,746 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Linde by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,438,154,000 after buying an additional 50,882 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

Linde Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $421.43 on Tuesday. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $439.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $453.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $200.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.63 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

About Linde

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.