Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Has $2.17 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,167,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its position in shares of Linde by 144.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde by 38.6% in the 4th quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 97 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the sale, 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,832.22. The trade was a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 16,285 shares of company stock valued at $7,423,986. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup dropped 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $467.49 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $410.69 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $222.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $438.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $454.70.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Linde

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.