CWS Financial Advisors LLC Increases Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

CWS Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 30.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,212 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $507,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 66.3% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 153 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $139,000. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Linde by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. World Equity Group Inc. bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $281,000. Finally, Delta Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $630,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted 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 raised 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $458.53 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business has a 50 day moving average of $437.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $454.56. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.69 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $218.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.69, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 three months, insiders sold 16,285 shares of company stock worth $7,423,986. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.