Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Sells 185 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. cut its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,234 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 185 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $6,378,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co lifted its stake in Linde by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 995 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC boosted its position in Linde by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 13,801 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,778,000 after buying an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 4,165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,744,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,870,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 sale, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $460.74 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $434.39 and a 200-day moving average of $453.79. The company has a market cap of $219.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.69 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

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, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.