Marietta Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Marietta Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,212 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Linde makes up 1.3% of Marietta Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Marietta Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $9,299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Linde by 16.9% in the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $873,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concord Asset Management LLC VA increased its position in Linde by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,999,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $446.12 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $434.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $453.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $212.42 billion, a PE ratio of 33.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $396.07 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.63 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.