Cigna Investments Inc. New Sells 58 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cigna Investments Inc. New lessened its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,887 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 58 shares during the period. Cigna Investments Inc. New’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,046,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,217,197,000 after buying an additional 154,792 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 372.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,567,958,000 after acquiring an additional 2,592,682 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,438,154,000 after acquiring an additional 50,882 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its holdings in Linde by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Linde by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $460.86 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $219.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $434.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $453.66. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was purchased 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 represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup lowered 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 reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.