Apexium Financial LP Takes $243,000 Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Apexium Financial LP has acquired a new stake of 522 shares in Linde PLC valued at approximately $243,000 during the first quarter of 2023.
• Analysts have a consensus "Buy" rating on Linde, with a current average target price of $519.63, reflecting optimistic forecasts for growth.
• Linde recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.2%, set to be paid on September 18th.

Apexium Financial LP acquired a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 522 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AlTi Global Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $971,000. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 75.0% in the first quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 193,563 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $90,131,000 after buying an additional 82,952 shares during the period. Freedom Day Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 9.6% in the first quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 6,102 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,841,000 after buying an additional 535 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $468,360,000. Finally, Exane Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at $295,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction, the director directly owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $481.67 on Monday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $469.29 and its 200-day moving average is $461.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $225.86 billion, a PE ratio of 34.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

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, topping 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%.Linde's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

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.

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