Linde PLC $LIN Shares Acquired by Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co.

Key Points

• Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in Linde PLC by 94.9% during the 2nd quarter, now owning 7,632 shares valued at approximately $3.58 million.
• Linde reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $4.09, exceeding expectations and setting its FY 2025 EPS guidance between $16.300 and $16.500.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, representing a 1.2% yield with a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 94.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,632 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,716 shares during the quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Linde were worth $3,581,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the first quarter worth about $2,097,793,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 58,312.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,590,596,000 after buying an additional 3,410,087 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Linde by 172.4% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,407,637 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,121,092,000 after buying an additional 1,523,702 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Linde by 18.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,542,991 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,511,751,000 after buying an additional 1,182,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $386,957,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock traded up $1.90 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $477.90. The stock had a trading volume of 1,110,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,025,071. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week 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's fifty day simple moving average is $473.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $463.26. The company has a market cap of $224.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.95.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. Linde's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous 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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective 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. Two equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target 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.