New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $166.03 Million Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 396,554 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 28,232 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.08% of Linde worth $166,025,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its position in Linde by 144.8% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $461.05 on Friday. 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 plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $434.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $453.89. The stock has a market cap of $219.53 billion, a PE ratio of 33.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced 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%. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.55 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup dropped 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. Mizuho boosted their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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. Insiders sold 9,503 shares of company stock worth $4,306,843 over the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.