Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Purchases 174 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,502 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Linde were worth $629,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 51,633 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,657,000 after purchasing an additional 4,036 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Linde by 5.4% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 23,237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,199,000 after acquiring an additional 1,199 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 5.3% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Linde during the second quarter worth $205,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Linde by 4.6% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 51,244 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,487,000 after acquiring an additional 2,231 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $435.51 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $435.27 and a 200-day moving average of $453.36. The company has a market cap of $207.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Linde plc has a one year low of $396.07 and a one year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.