Equitable Trust Co. Purchases Shares of 6,920 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Equitable Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 6,920 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,897,000.

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $455.05 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $434.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $453.60. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 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 analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.