Waverton Investment Management Ltd Acquires 46,201 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Waverton Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 23.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 241,402 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 46,201 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for approximately 1.7% of Waverton Investment Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Waverton Investment Management Ltd owned 0.05% of Linde worth $112,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter worth $228,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 5.9% during the first quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 246,512 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $114,786,000 after purchasing an additional 13,629 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its position in Linde by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,707 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,657,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter worth about $223,000. Finally, TFC Financial Management Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 257 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $510.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $464.46 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.97. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $458.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $449.50.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The company's quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.75 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LIN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.