Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co Invests $1.48 Million in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co acquired a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,480,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,692,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $644,986,000 after purchasing an additional 14,969 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth about $23,044,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,600,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd grew its stake in Linde by 156.3% in the 4th quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 10,121 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,146,000 after buying an additional 6,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,679,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded down $3.73 on Tuesday, reaching $457.94. 1,436,512 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,326,015. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $447.01 and its 200-day moving average is $414.11. Linde plc has a one year low of $350.60 and a one year high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $220.53 billion, a PE ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.16 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $448.93.

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.