Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Has $5.57 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,311 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 403 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises about 1.3% of Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,573,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. increased its holdings in Linde by 85.2% in the 4th quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after buying an additional 1,723 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in Linde by 6.7% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,021 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position 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 valued at $898,188,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $625,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, 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 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % 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 quarter. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $458.00 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $436.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $454.33. Linde plc has a one year low of $410.69 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $218.08 billion, a PE ratio of 33.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LIN. TD Cowen upgraded shares of 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 note on Monday, January 13th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde 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.