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

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 8.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,349 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 468 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,066,825,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 566.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $851,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558,538 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 104.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,672,000 after acquiring an additional 468,415 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 91.6% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,648,000 after acquiring an additional 463,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde during the first quarter worth approximately $210,480,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. HSBC cut their price target on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Linde from $475.00 to $477.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Linde Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $2.20 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $443.46. 643,367 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,978,379. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $439.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $440.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $361.02 and a 1-year high of $477.71. The firm has a market cap of $213.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.57, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.57 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

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.