Linde PLC $LIN Shares Sold by Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd

Key Points

• Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 8.2%, owning 9,296 shares valued at approximately $4.36 million after selling 825 shares.
• Linde's quarterly earnings exceeded expectations with an EPS of $4.09, and the company reported revenue of $8.50 billion, marking a 2.3% increase year-over-year.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50, providing a yield of 1.3% and setting a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd cut its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 8.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,296 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 825 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up approximately 2.1% of Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd's holdings in Linde were worth $4,362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,097,793,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in Linde by 172.4% in the first 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. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position 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 valued at $3,511,751,000 after buying an additional 1,182,157 shares in the last quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $233,405,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Linde by 5.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,600,297 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,470,284,000 after buying an additional 453,108 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of LIN opened at $466.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.20, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $474.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $464.31.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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