BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Has $66.54 Million Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• British Columbia Investment Management Corp has reduced its holdings in Linde PLC by 20.8%, now owning 142,902 shares valued at $66.54 million.
• Linde recently reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $4.03, and achieved a 20.20% net margin.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50, with a payout ratio of 42.67%, contributing to an annualized yield of 1.2%.

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp trimmed its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 20.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 142,902 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 37,528 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in Linde were worth $66,541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Groupe la Francaise increased its stake in Linde by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 210,199 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $96,790,000 after buying an additional 24,185 shares during the period. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 4.9% in the first quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 5,849 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,724,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Maren Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 7.7% during the first quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 238,449 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $111,032,000 after acquiring an additional 17,123 shares in the last quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 21.7% during the first quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,292 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $601,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategies Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 29.4% in the first quarter. Strategies Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,067,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $0.79 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $482.71. 2,197,474 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,047,839. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $469.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $461.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.85 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. 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 forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.