Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Acquired by Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 58,423 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,448 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Linde were worth $24,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its holdings in Linde by 144.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’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 owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This trade 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 corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target 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 reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $460.68 on Friday. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $434.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $453.44.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.45 EPS for the current 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.