Linde PLC $LIN Stock Position Boosted by National Pension Service

National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 967,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 24,624 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Linde were worth $459,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter worth $3,098,772,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Linde by 82.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,683,248 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $799,543,000 after acquiring an additional 760,954 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in Linde by 18.5% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,972,515 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,394,198,000 after acquiring an additional 463,977 shares in the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $187,359,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 48.7% during the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,131,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $530,617,000 after purchasing an additional 370,261 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $456.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $213.38 billion, a PE ratio of 30.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.85. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $486.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $425.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $447.91.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Linde had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 19.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on LIN. BMO Capital Markets set a $501.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, December 29th. CICC Research began coverage on Linde in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho set a $495.00 price target on Linde in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $501.75.

About Linde

Linde (NASDAQ: LIN) is a multinational industrial gases and engineering company that supplies gases, related technologies and services to a wide range of industries. The company traces its current form to the 2018 combination of Germany’s Linde AG and U.S.-based Praxair, creating one of the largest global providers of industrial, specialty and medical gases. Linde’s business model centers on production, processing and distribution of gases as well as the design and construction of the plants and equipment needed to produce them.

Core products and services include atmospheric and process gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon; hydrogen and helium; carbon dioxide; and a portfolio of higher‑value specialty and electronic gases.