R Squared Ltd Makes New Investment in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,681 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,378,000. Linde makes up approximately 2.3% of R Squared Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 144.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth $34,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $435.51 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $396.07 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $207.37 billion, a PE ratio of 33.07, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $435.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $453.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.63 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.45 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LIN. 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 note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

About Linde

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.