Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Increases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 20.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,121 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 362 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $888,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Linde by 372.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,567,958,000 after buying an additional 2,592,682 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 47,830.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $446,377,000 after purchasing an additional 934,123 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 2,293.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $327,593,000 after purchasing an additional 749,763 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 108.7% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $374,086,000 after purchasing an additional 408,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 131.6% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 621,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $296,342,000 after purchasing an additional 353,136 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup cut their price target 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased 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, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $439.25 on Monday. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $435.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $453.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,832.22. The trade was a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.