FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Buys 1,405 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Long Beach increased its stake in Linde PLC by 266.1%, acquiring an additional 1,405 shares in the 2nd quarter, bringing their total holdings to 1,933 shares valued at $907,000.
• Linde recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $4.09, exceeding estimates, with a revenue of $8.50 billion, showing a year-over-year increase of 2.3%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, translating to an annual yield of 1.3%, with a payout ratio of 42.67%.

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH boosted its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 266.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,933 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,405 shares during the quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH's holdings in Linde were worth $907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,097,793,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Linde by 172.4% in 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 buying an additional 1,523,702 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Linde by 18.6% in 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 buying an additional 1,182,157 shares in the last quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $233,405,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Linde by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,600,297 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,470,284,000 after buying an additional 453,108 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $474.41 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $474.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $463.97. The stock has a market cap of $222.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.95.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.85 EPS. The company's revenue 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. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock 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 research report on Monday, June 30th. 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $519.63.

Linde 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.

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