Juergen Nowicki Sells 6,782 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Linde Stock Down 0.8 %

Linde stock opened at $458.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $218.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.65, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $436.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $454.39. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,598,551,000 after acquiring an additional 30,750 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,857,741,000 after acquiring an additional 554,480 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $2,128,233,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.