World Equity Group Inc. Buys Shares of 672 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

World Equity Group Inc. bought a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 672 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its position in shares of Linde by 108.7% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $374,086,000 after buying an additional 408,659 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $252,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Linde by 125.9% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,008 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,342,000 after buying an additional 3,906 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its position in shares of Linde by 5.3% during the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $619,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, PFG Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 3.4% during the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,103,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $458.53 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The business’s fifty day moving average is $437.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $454.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89.

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 return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. On average, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,285 shares of company stock valued at $7,423,986. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.