Ascent Group LLC Sells 2,951 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ascent Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 37.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,967 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,951 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. First Pacific Financial bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 49.0% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.10.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded down $1.43 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $449.96. The stock had a trading volume of 1,015,232 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,982,994. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $437.51 and its 200 day moving average is $438.38. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $361.02 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.02, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.