Waverton Investment Management Ltd Decreases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Waverton Investment Management Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 195,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 835 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for about 1.3% of Waverton Investment Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Waverton Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Linde were worth $81,717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in Linde by 108.7% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $374,086,000 after acquiring an additional 408,659 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the third quarter worth about $252,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Linde by 147.0% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 32,698 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $15,592,000 after buying an additional 19,459 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in Linde by 125.9% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,008 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,342,000 after buying an additional 3,906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its stake in Linde by 5.3% during the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $619,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 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. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,285 shares of company stock valued at $7,423,986. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $458.00 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $436.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $454.48. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.69 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $218.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LIN. Citigroup lowered their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

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.