Linde PLC $LIN Shares Acquired by Heartland Bank & Trust Co

Key Points

• Heartland Bank & Trust Co increased its stake in Linde PLC shares by 100.2%, now owning 1,826 shares valued at around $857,000 following the recent 13F filing.
• Linde's latest quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $4.09 EPS against an estimate of $4.03, with revenues of $8.50 billion, reflecting a 2.3% year-over-year growth.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Linde, with a consensus price target of $520.00, indicating a strong buy sentiment overall.

Heartland Bank & Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 100.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,826 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 914 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co's holdings in Linde were worth $857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 249,742 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $117,174,000 after acquiring an additional 3,230 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Linde by 75.0% during the 1st quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 193,563 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $90,131,000 after acquiring an additional 82,952 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 9.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 535 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in Linde by 25.9% during the 1st quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 23,558 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,970,000 after acquiring an additional 4,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exane Asset Management bought a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $295,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have given 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 $520.00.

Linde Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $456.64 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $214.12 billion, a PE ratio of 32.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.93. The company's 50-day moving average price is $474.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $464.49. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

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 the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. Linde's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.85 EPS. 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 anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. 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 (DPR) is presently 42.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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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