Confluence Investment Management LLC Has $148.47 Million Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Confluence Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 1.9%, now holding approximately $148.47 million worth of shares, accounting for 2.1% of its overall investment portfolio.
• Linde's recent earnings report showed a revenue of $8.50 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of $4.09, exceeding analysts' expectations.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with a total annualized dividend of $6.00, representing a yield of 1.2%.

Confluence Investment Management LLC decreased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 316,440 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 6,011 shares during the period. Linde accounts for 2.1% of Confluence Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Confluence Investment Management LLC owned 0.07% of Linde worth $148,467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,097,793,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Linde by 58,312.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,590,596,000 after buying an additional 3,410,087 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Linde by 172.4% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,407,637 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,121,092,000 after acquiring an additional 1,523,702 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Linde by 18.6% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 1,182,157 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $386,957,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded down $5.31 on Monday, hitting $476.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,130,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,623,274. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $472.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $462.99. The firm has a market cap of $223.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.95. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. 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 quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $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. Analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total value of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $227,479,445.34. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group increased their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued 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 an average 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.