Fisher Funds Management LTD Purchases New Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 7,991 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,339,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Concord Asset Management LLC VA boosted its holdings in Linde by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 14.3% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 192 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 2,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $841,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,285 shares of company stock worth $7,423,986 over the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Down 0.8 %

LIN stock opened at $458.00 on Monday. 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 0.76. The company has a market cap of $218.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $436.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $454.48.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lifted their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup reduced their price objective 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. Finally, TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.