OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC Has $3.32 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 38.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,923 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,190 shares during the quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $3,317,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. lifted its position in Linde by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 48,256 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $20,203,000 after buying an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 126.0% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 39,839 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $16,679,000 after purchasing an additional 22,214 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $169,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 67,872 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $28,416,000 after purchasing an additional 7,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirova raised its position in Linde by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Mirova now owns 12,710 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,321,000 after purchasing an additional 3,091 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Down 0.2 %

Linde stock traded down $1.09 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $447.31. 421,294 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,944,726. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $211.54 billion, a PE ratio of 32.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $454.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $450.24.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. This is a positive change from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $498.00.

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.