World Investment Advisors Has $689,000 Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

World Investment Advisors raised its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 32.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Linde were worth $689,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its stake in shares of Linde by 144.8% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 over the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. 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 note on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $437.96 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $458.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $453.85. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.25 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $207.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.18, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.