Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Has $11.83 Million Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its stake in Linde PLC by 74.5%, holding 25,393 shares valued at $11.83 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Analysts have set a consensus rating of "Buy" for Linde with an average target price of $519.63, reflecting strong institutional interest in the stock.
• Linde recently reported earnings of $4.09 per share, surpassing estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 to be paid on September 18th.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 74.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,393 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 10,844 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $11,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,261,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. AlTi Global Inc. bought a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $971,000. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Linde by 75.0% in the 1st quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 193,563 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $90,131,000 after purchasing an additional 82,952 shares during the period. Freedom Day Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 6,102 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,841,000 after buying an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $468,360,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded up $2.1930 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $482.1130. The company's stock had a trading volume of 650,134 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,065,625. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $226.07 billion, a PE ratio of 34.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.92. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $468.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $460.61.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.