Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Short Interest Update

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,160,000 shares, a drop of 20.6% from the January 15th total of 6,500,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,270,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 1.1% of the company's stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on LIN. Erste Group Bank reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research 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. According to MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,503 shares of company stock worth $4,306,843 over the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. lifted its stake in Linde by 85.2% during the fourth quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,092,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,021 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $625,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded down $4.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $457.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,705,529 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,276,889. The company has a market capitalization of $217.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. Linde has a 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $434.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $454.01.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde will post 16.55 earnings per share for the current year.

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.