Insider Selling: Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Director Sells 2,900 Shares of Stock

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded down $1.99 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $458.75. 350,330 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,256,787. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $434.44 and a 200-day moving average of $453.86. Linde plc has a one year low of $410.69 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $218.44 billion, a PE ratio of 33.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Linde

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allstate Corp increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 2,958.1% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 14,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,953,000 after acquiring an additional 13,755 shares in the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS grew its position in shares of Linde by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 94,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,426,000 after purchasing an additional 3,240 shares during the period. Alerus Financial NA increased its stake in Linde by 355.4% during the 4th quarter. Alerus Financial NA now owns 5,857 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,452,000 after purchasing an additional 4,571 shares in the last quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,669 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,630,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the period. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its holdings in Linde by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 48,459 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,231,000 after buying an additional 3,390 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

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.