Leavell Investment Management Inc. Purchases 248 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,870,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its position in shares of Linde by 144.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LIN. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut their target price 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 raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Linde Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $458.56 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $434.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $453.86. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $410.69 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $218.35 billion, a PE ratio of 33.69, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,503 shares of company stock valued at $4,306,843. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.