Phoenix Financial Ltd. Trims Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Phoenix Financial Ltd. reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 7.6%, holding 14,488 shares valued at $6.76 million after selling 1,192 shares in the first quarter.
• Several hedge funds have recently bought stakes in Linde, with 82.80% of its stock owned by institutional investors.
• Analysts have upgraded Linde's stock ratings, with a consensus rating of "Buy" and a target price of $518.80, indicating positive future expectations for the company.

Phoenix Financial Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 7.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,488 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,192 shares during the quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd.'s holdings in Linde were worth $6,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.5% in the first quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $450,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.8% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Rockingstone Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the first quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,883,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 20.2% in the first quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded up $3.66 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $471.12. 446,696 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,126,024. The stock's fifty day moving average is $466.67 and its 200-day moving average is $456.90. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $221.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.22, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $518.80.

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.