Kentucky Retirement Systems Trims Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 33,034 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 455 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Linde were worth $13,830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Concord Asset Management LLC VA increased its holdings in 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 worth $1,999,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 14.3% in the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 192 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.6% during 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 lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 2,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $960,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Romano Brothers AND Company boosted its holdings in Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 2,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $841,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the company’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,503 shares of company stock worth $4,306,843 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $461.90 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $219.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.94, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $436.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $454.23. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $410.69 and a 52-week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on LIN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upgraded 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. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

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.