J. Stern & Co. LLP Sells 1,316 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• J. Stern & Co. LLP reduced its holdings in Linde PLC by 29.7%, owning 3,112 shares worth $1,449,000 after selling 1,316 shares in Q1.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Linde, with a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63, reflecting recent upgrades from various firms.
• Linde announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, yielding 1.3%, with a payout ratio of 42.67% as of its latest earnings report.

J. Stern & Co. LLP lowered its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 29.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,112 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,316 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP's holdings in Linde were worth $1,449,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 68,460 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $28,662,000 after buying an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 80.4% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 2,253 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $943,000 after buying an additional 1,004 shares during the period. Finally, Boothbay Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 25.8% during the fourth quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 2,092 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $876,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.8%

LIN traded down $3.86 during trading on Friday, reaching $478.29. 2,058,214 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,058,015. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $470.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $461.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $224.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.92.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.85 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter 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 research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Two equities research 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price 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.