TCW Group Inc. Sells 9,342 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

TCW Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 14.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 55,281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,342 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $23,144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 2,592,682 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Linde by 2,293.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $327,593,000 after acquiring an additional 749,763 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in Linde by 108.7% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $374,086,000 after acquiring an additional 408,659 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Linde by 131.6% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 621,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $296,342,000 after acquiring an additional 353,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV grew its stake in Linde by 78.2% in the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 598,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $285,523,000 after acquiring an additional 262,691 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $458.00 on Friday. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.69 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $436.88 and a 200 day moving average of $454.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.65, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,285 shares of company stock valued at $7,423,986 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. 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 restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

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.