Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. boosted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 19.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,508 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 1,515 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $3,981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Concord Asset Management LLC VA lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 192 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Fourpath Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Greystone Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 2,013 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Romano Brothers AND Company grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 2,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $841,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,503 shares of company stock valued at $4,306,843 in the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $461.90. 1,334,477 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,259,478. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $435.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $454.18. 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 company has a market capitalization of $219.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on LIN. Mizuho lifted their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. 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 note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, 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 note on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $501.82.

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.