Bridges Investment Management Inc. Sells 1,142 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Bridges Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 2.1%, selling 1,142 shares and leaving it with 52,298 shares valued at approximately $24.5 million.
• In Q2, several institutional investors increased their holdings in Linde, with a notable 11.7% increase from Ritholtz Wealth Management, contributing to a total of 82.80% of the stock being owned by institutional investors.
• Linde's quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $4.09 earnings per share on revenue of $8.50 billion, leading to an optimistic FY 2025 EPS guidance of 16.300-16.500.

Bridges Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 2.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,298 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,142 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $24,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Davidson Investment Advisors bought a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth about $9,049,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Linde by 11.7% in the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 5,898 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,767,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 2.1% in the second quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 2,839 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,332,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,323 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,498,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its position in shares of Linde by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 6,115 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,869,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $520.00.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $451.42 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $211.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $473.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $464.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 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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