Howard Capital Management Inc. Sells 1,475 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Howard Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 10.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,475 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $6,051,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Argus raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $518.80.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $471.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $466.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $457.00. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.75 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.