EP Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde PLC by 16.9%, owning 7,024 shares valued at approximately $3.27 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Linde reported an EPS of $4.09 for the last quarter, surpassing expectations, with revenue reaching $8.50 billion, marking a year-over-year increase of 2.3%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, reflecting a 1.3% yield, payable to investors of record on September 4th.

EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 16.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,024 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 1,014 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $3,271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LGL Partners LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth approximately $202,000. First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 7.2% in the first quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 651,875 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $303,539,000 after purchasing an additional 44,019 shares during the period. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $158,000. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 11.8% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 2,519 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. Finally, Flputnam Investment Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.7% in the first quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 21,904 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,199,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded down $2.87 during trading on Friday, reaching $469.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,066,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,493,888. 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 PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $220.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $472.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $462.36.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The firm 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 earned $3.85 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a 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 issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.