Linde PLC $LIN Shares Acquired by Ally Financial Inc.

Key Points

• Ally Financial Inc. increased its stake in Linde PLC by 100%, now owning 4,000 shares valued at approximately $1.86 million.
• Linde has received multiple upgrades from analysts, with a majority consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.2% and a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Ally Financial Inc. boosted its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 100.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Ally Financial Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $1,863,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. North Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Linde Stock Up 0.2%

LIN stock traded up $0.79 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $482.71. The stock had a trading volume of 2,259,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,496,574. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $226.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.33, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $469.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $461.48.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.85 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.300-16.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.20 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

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.