Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,720 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 629 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at $315,000. Choreo LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 6.6% in the first quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 1,111 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 6.7% in the first quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 3,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,416,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.5% in the first quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,284,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $302,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

Linde Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $458.32 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $385.12 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The company’s fifty day moving average is $472.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $451.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.63 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.52 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.