Waverly Advisors LLC Has $4.82 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 47.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,516 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,698 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $4,822,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $11,972,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $708,000. Sone Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,936,000. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 22.7% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 12,616 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,282,000 after purchasing an additional 2,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 527.0% during the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 4,038 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 3,394 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock traded down $0.10 during trading on Monday, hitting $458.90. The company had a trading volume of 1,627,024 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,948,584. The business has a 50 day moving average of $451.27 and a 200 day moving average of $447.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Linde's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.11.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.