Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Sells 109 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. decreased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,231 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 109 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Linde by 372.8% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 2,592,682 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in 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 during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 408,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in Linde by 131.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 621,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $296,342,000 after buying an additional 353,136 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Trading Up 0.6 %

LIN opened at $438.32 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $208.71 billion, a PE ratio of 33.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $396.07 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a fifty day moving average of $435.10 and a 200-day moving average of $453.33.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho increased their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

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.