Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Purchases 3,394 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 527.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,038 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,394 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $1,691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $598,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 22.7% in the 4th quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,248 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $931,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,575 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $659,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 27,575 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $11,545,000 after buying an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addenda Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 21,959 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $9,194,000 after buying an additional 4,714 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm'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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,246 shares of company stock worth $5,188,827 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $459.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $451.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $447.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $216.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.79, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The company's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. Linde's payout ratio is 43.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.11.

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.

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