DnB Asset Management AS Reduces Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• DnB Asset Management AS has reduced its holdings in Linde PLC by 1.2%, bringing its total shares owned to 92,999, valued at approximately $43.3 million.
• Multiple hedge funds have increased their stakes in Linde, with Strategy Asset Managers LLC and Diversify Advisory Services LLC raising their positions by 2.8% and 2.5%, respectively.
• Linde recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.3% and a payout ratio of 42.67%.

DnB Asset Management AS lowered its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 92,999 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,171 shares during the quarter. DnB Asset Management AS's holdings in Linde were worth $43,304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in Linde by 75.0% in the 1st 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 during the period. Freedom Day Solutions LLC grew its position in Linde by 9.6% in the 1st 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 during the period. Exane Asset Management acquired a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at $295,000. Hourglass Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at $935,000. Finally, Ethos Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at $345,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. UBS Group lifted their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.63.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $2.87 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $469.52. The company had a trading volume of 1,066,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,493,888. The company's 50 day moving average price is $472.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $462.36. 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 stock has a market cap of $220.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.95. 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 results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous 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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. 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 is 42.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.