First Merchants Corp Trims Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

First Merchants Corp trimmed its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,320 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 52 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $8,507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA raised its stake in Linde by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 508,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $212,913,000 after purchasing an additional 7,266 shares during the period. Arcus Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $883,000. Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,456,000. Avestar Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 4,432 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,856,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 139 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $461.05 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.53 billion, a PE ratio of 33.88, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $434.42 and its 200 day moving average is $453.89. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its 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 net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upgraded 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. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,503 shares of company stock valued at $4,306,843 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.