Busey Bank Sells 729 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Busey Bank has reduced its holdings in Linde PLC by 1.6%, now owning 43,502 shares worth approximately $20.41 million.
• Linde recently reported an EPS of $4.09 for the quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate, with a revenue of $8.50 billion for the same period.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, indicating an annualized dividend yield of 1.3% and a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Busey Bank reduced its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,502 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 729 shares during the quarter. Busey Bank's holdings in Linde were worth $20,410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. North Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at about $41,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, eCIO Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth about $45,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Linde Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $1.72 on Tuesday, hitting $479.48. 847,846 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,030,454. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $473.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $463.39. The company has a market cap of $224.83 billion, a PE ratio of 34.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.95.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The firm's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $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. Equities 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 issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 42.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.