Korea Investment CORP Purchases 99,566 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Korea Investment CORP increased its stake in Linde PLC by 28.7%, holding a total of 446,623 shares valued at approximately $207.97 million after acquiring an additional 99,566 shares in Q1.
• Linde recently reported a quarterly earnings of $4.09 EPS, exceeding analyst expectations and showing a 2.3% year-over-year revenue growth to $8.50 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50, with the ex-dividend date set for September 4th, reflecting a 1.2% dividend yield for investors.

Korea Investment CORP grew its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 28.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 446,623 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 99,566 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned approximately 0.09% of Linde worth $207,966,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $2,128,233,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth $2,097,793,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 58,312.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,590,596,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410,087 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of Linde by 172.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,523,702 shares during the period. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $468,360,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on LIN shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.63.

Linde Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $0.96 during trading on Friday, reaching $481.67. 1,782,427 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,061,979. 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 firm has a market cap of $225.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $468.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $460.94. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.85 EPS. The firm's revenue 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. Analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is presently 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.