Marshall Wace LLP Grows Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 61.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 409,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 156,454 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 0.09% of Linde worth $171,379,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after acquiring an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,901,853,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Linde by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,818,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,598,737,000 after purchasing an additional 265,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,300,092,000 after purchasing an additional 89,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Linde by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $450.97 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $455.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $451.56.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Linde’s payout ratio is 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup cut their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average 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.