WCM Investment Management LLC Has $1.46 Billion Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

WCM Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,553,793 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 261,553 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises about 4.0% of WCM Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. WCM Investment Management LLC owned 0.73% of Linde worth $1,456,238,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $575,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $951,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.9% in the third quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Seven Mile Advisory increased its stake in shares of Linde by 4.2% in the third quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 2,573 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on LIN. Citigroup cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 in the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $5.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $447.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,976,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,267,283. The company has a 50-day moving average of $450.62 and a 200-day moving average of $415.72. The firm has a market cap of $215.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.16 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.13%.

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.