Bowie Capital Management LLC Sells 15,802 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Bowie Capital Management LLC has reduced its position in Linde PLC by 33.5%, now holding 31,432 shares valued at approximately $14.64 million.
• During the first quarter, several institutional investors increased their stakes in Linde, with Ethic Inc. raising theirs by 30.2% and Raymond James Financial Inc. lifting theirs by 1.2%.
• Linde recently reported earnings of $4.09 per share, exceeding expectations, alongside a quarterly revenue of $8.50 billion, marking a 2.3% year-over-year increase.

Bowie Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 33.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,432 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 15,802 shares during the period. Linde comprises 0.7% of Bowie Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Bowie Capital Management LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $14,636,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,261,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. AlTi Global Inc. bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $971,000. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 82,952 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $468,360,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Stock Down 0.2%

Linde stock traded down $0.7960 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $481.5640. 362,440 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,058,070. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $225.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.92. The business's 50-day moving average price is $468.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $460.76. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period 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. On average, research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.