Bfsg LLC Sells 149 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bfsg LLC lowered its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,720 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 149 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,217,197,000 after buying an additional 154,792 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 372.8% in 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,438,154,000 after acquiring an additional 50,882 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in Linde by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Linde by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business’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 transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,503 shares of company stock worth $4,306,843 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde Trading Down 0.9 %

Linde stock opened at $457.00 on Tuesday. 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 plc has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $434.82 and a 200 day moving average of $454.01.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. As a group, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.55 earnings per share for the current 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.