MAI Capital Management Boosts Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• MAI Capital Management increased its holdings in Linde PLC by 29.3%, owning 37,598 shares valued at approximately $17.5 million as of its latest filing.
• Linde recently reported Q2 earnings of $4.09 per share, slightly exceeding analyst expectations, with revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, marking a 2.3% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.3%, to be paid out on September 18th.

MAI Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 29.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 37,598 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 8,524 shares during the quarter. MAI Capital Management's holdings in Linde were worth $17,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Linde by 5.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,600,297 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,470,284,000 after purchasing an additional 453,108 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Linde by 18.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,182,157 shares during the period. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $2,128,233,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth about $2,097,793,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Linde by 1.1% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,859,539 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,797,156,000 after purchasing an additional 40,931 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $519.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded down $2.36 on Wednesday, reaching $471.78. The stock had a trading volume of 1,396,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,469,702. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $221.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.95. 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 business's 50 day moving average is $472.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $462.22.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. The business 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $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. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

About Linde

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.