5,867 Shares in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Acquired by Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC

Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 5,867 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,456,000. Linde makes up 2.4% of Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 85.2% during the fourth quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,092,000 after buying an additional 1,723 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Linde by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of Linde by 6.7% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $625,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LIN. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho boosted their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 9,503 shares of company stock valued at $4,306,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.5 %

Linde stock opened at $461.05 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 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.53 billion, a PE ratio of 33.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $434.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $453.89.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.55 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.