Swedbank AB Buys 135,856 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Swedbank AB increased its shareholding in Linde PLC by 14.8% in the second quarter, owning over 1 million shares valued at approximately $493 million by quarter-end.
• Linde reported EPS of $4.09 for the last quarter, exceeding estimates and marking a 2.3% year-over-year revenue increase with revenue reaching $8.50 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with a yield of 1.3%, scheduled for payment on September 18th to shareholders of record as of September 4th.

Swedbank AB lifted its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,051,176 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 135,856 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned about 0.22% of Linde worth $493,191,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth approximately $2,097,793,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 58,312.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,590,596,000 after buying an additional 3,410,087 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 172.4% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,407,637 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,121,092,000 after buying an additional 1,523,702 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 18.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,542,991 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,511,751,000 after buying an additional 1,182,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $386,957,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $3.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $479.01. The stock had a trading volume of 3,725,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,663,088. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $473.32 and a 200-day moving average of $463.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a market capitalization of $224.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.95. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.85 earnings per share. Linde'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, research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was 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 currently 42.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock 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 issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $519.63.

Linde 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.