Harbour Capital Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Harbour Capital Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,310 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 81 shares during the period. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $955,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 144.8% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Linde in the third quarter worth $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 1,733.3% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 618.8% during the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded up $7.41 on Monday, reaching $421.56. The stock had a trading volume of 1,161,610 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,272,082. The business’s 50 day moving average is $439.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $453.30. The company has a market cap of $200.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $396.07 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on LIN. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

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.