Linde PLC $LIN Shares Sold by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company decreased its stake in Linde PLC by 19.3%, owning 848,729 shares worth approximately $395.2 million after selling 202,937 shares in the first quarter.
• Recent analyst ratings indicate an average price target of $519.63 for Linde, with the stock currently rated as a "Buy" by most analysts, including a target price increase from notable firms like JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup.
• Linde recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, representing an annual yield of around 1.2%, with a payout ratio of 42.67%.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company trimmed its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 19.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 848,729 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 202,937 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.18% of Linde worth $395,199,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $2,128,233,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,097,793,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 58,312.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,590,596,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410,087 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Linde by 172.4% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,407,637 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,121,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,523,702 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Linde by 18.6% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 1,182,157 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $519.63.

Linde Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of Linde stock traded down $4.15 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $474.14. 1,256,864 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,051,153. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $471.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $462.07. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. 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 firm has a market cap of $222.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.95.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $8.50 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm 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, equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde's payout ratio is 42.67%.

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.