National Pension Service Cuts Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

National Pension Service decreased its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 922,750 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 17,451 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Linde were worth $386,328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 144.8% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Linde in the third quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 38.6% in the fourth quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 97 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $467.49 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $222.60 billion, a PE ratio of 34.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $438.23 and a 200-day moving average of $454.70.

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, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 16,285 shares of company stock valued at $7,423,986. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.