Waverly Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Waverly Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 47.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,516 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying 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 quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,598,551,000 after buying an additional 30,750 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,857,741,000 after buying an additional 554,480 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $2,128,233,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Linde Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $459.85 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $451.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $447.64. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $216.46 billion, a PE ratio of 33.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.75 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.57%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,246 shares of company stock worth $5,188,827. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company 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.

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