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

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $458.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $218.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The business’s 50-day moving average is $436.88 and its 200 day moving average is $454.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Linde by 34.4% during 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Linde by 0.3% during 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 last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Linde by 6.4% during 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 last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,128,233,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

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.