Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 175.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,483 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,038 shares during the quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $3,970,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Linde by 1.4% in 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 buying an additional 154,792 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 372.8% during the third 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 worth $1,567,958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,592,682 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 1.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,438,154,000 after buying an additional 50,882 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised 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 raised its stake in 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 during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $461.90. The company had a trading volume of 1,334,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,259,478. The stock has a market cap of $219.94 billion, a PE ratio of 33.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $435.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $454.18. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on LIN. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 22,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 9,503 shares of company stock worth $4,306,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.