Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Buys 44 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,126 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 44 shares during the quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,146,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,217,197,000 after acquiring an additional 154,792 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 372.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,567,958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,592,682 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 1.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,438,154,000 after buying an additional 50,882 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in Linde by 2.4% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,130,986,000 after buying an additional 56,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings 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 worth $898,188,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $455.05 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $434.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $453.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.55 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Four 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, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde Company 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.