Acadian Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Acadian Asset Management LLC significantly increased its stake in Linde PLC by 588.5% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 58,345 shares, bringing its total holdings to 68,259 shares valued at approximately $31.77 million.
• Linde's latest earnings report showed an earnings per share of $4.09, slightly exceeding analysts' expectations, with total revenue of $8.50 billion, reflecting a 2.3% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 1.3%, with a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 588.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 68,259 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 58,345 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $31,775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in Linde by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 68,460 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $28,662,000 after buying an additional 1,876 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 80.4% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 2,253 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $943,000 after buying an additional 1,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 131.8% in the 4th quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 3,850 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,612,000 after buying an additional 2,189 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $519.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the sale, the director owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.3%

LIN traded down $1.55 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $482.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,069,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,617,354. The stock has a market cap of $226.03 billion, a PE ratio of 34.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The business's 50-day moving average is $472.66 and its 200-day moving average is $462.91.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.85 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.300-16.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.20 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.67%.

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.