Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Increases Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its holdings in Linde PLC by 13.0%, acquiring an additional 6,187 shares, bringing its total to 53,635 shares valued at approximately $25.17 million.
• Analysts have shown optimism for Linde, with Royal Bank of Canada setting a price objective of $576.00, while Citigroup raised its target from $500.00 to $535.00 after upgrading the stock to a "buy".
• Linde recently reported a quarterly earnings of $4.09 EPS, exceeding analyst expectations and indicating a 2.3% revenue growth year-over-year, with FY 2025 guidance set at 16.300-16.500 EPS.

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 13.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 53,635 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,187 shares during the period. Linde comprises approximately 1.6% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings in Linde were worth $25,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Linde by 5.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 453,108 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,182,157 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,097,793,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Linde by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,859,539 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,797,156,000 after acquiring an additional 40,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Linde by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,339,761 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,533,318,000 after acquiring an additional 9,870 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total value of $23,815,274.42. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $466.73 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business's 50 day moving average price is $474.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $464.31. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $218.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.85 EPS. The business'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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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