Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Has $48.82 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund cut its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 116,596 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,100 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Linde were worth $48,815,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in Linde by 108.7% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $374,086,000 after purchasing an additional 408,659 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $252,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 147.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 32,698 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $15,592,000 after acquiring an additional 19,459 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Linde by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 9,004 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,294,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its stake in shares of Linde by 247.8% in the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 1,965 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $940,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $458.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $218.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $436.88 and its 200 day moving average is $454.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 16,285 shares of company stock valued at $7,423,986 over the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.