Flputnam Investment Management Co. Has $10.20 Million Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Flputnam Investment Management Co. increased its stake in Linde PLC by 3.7%, acquiring an additional 781 shares to own a total of 21,904 shares valued at $10.2 million.
• Linde reported earnings of $4.09 per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates of $4.03, with revenues of $8.50 billion up 2.3% year-over-year.
• A quarterly dividend of $1.50 will be paid on September 18, 2023, representing an annualized yield of 1.3% and a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 3.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,904 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 781 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.'s holdings in Linde were worth $10,199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ICW Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde by 0.5% during the first quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,907 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,216,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 29.3% in the 1st quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 37,598 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $17,507,000 after purchasing an additional 8,524 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Linde by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,278 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $595,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at $87,000. Finally, Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth $14,838,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $0.61 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $472.39. 1,480,849 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,047,916. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.95. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $472.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $462.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.85 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.300-16.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. 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 objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted 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. Two 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average 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.