Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 38.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,196 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its position in Linde by 144.8% in the fourth 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 period. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in Linde by 1,733.3% during the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Linde by 618.8% in the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on LIN. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the sale, 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. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $414.15 on Monday. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $396.07 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $439.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $453.30. The company has a market capitalization of $197.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.45, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.