Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Stake Lowered by Cornerstone Planning Group LLC

Cornerstone Planning Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,044 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 64 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $459,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LIN. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,217,197,000 after acquiring an additional 154,792 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Linde by 372.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,592,682 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 1.7% during 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 during 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 worth $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares during the last quarter. 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 worth $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on LIN. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Citigroup dropped their price objective 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. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock 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 MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of Linde 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. The trade was a 75.19 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $455.05 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $434.36 and its 200-day moving average is $453.60. The stock has a market cap of $216.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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