Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 37,986 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV's holdings in Linde were worth $15,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Linde by 56,467.9% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $459,692,000 after buying an additional 1,096,041 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Linde by 2,293.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $327,593,000 after buying an additional 749,763 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $308,251,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LIN. 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. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of 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 research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $498.00.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $2.46 on Monday, reaching $452.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,462,119 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,934,450. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.25, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's 50-day moving average is $453.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $448.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.75 EPS. The firm's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.