Maren Capital LLC Boosts Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Maren Capital LLC increased its shareholding in Linde PLC by 7.7%, now owning a total of 238,449 shares valued at approximately $111 million, making Linde its 6th largest holding.
• Linde reported quarterly earnings of $4.09 per share, exceeding estimates, with revenue of $8.50 billion, representing a 2.3% year-over-year increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50, with a 1.2% yield, and has set its FY 2025 earnings guidance at 16.300-16.500 EPS.

Maren Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 7.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 238,449 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 17,123 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for 7.6% of Maren Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Maren Capital LLC owned about 0.05% of Linde worth $111,032,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $2,128,233,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth $2,097,793,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 58,312.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,410,087 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Linde by 172.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,523,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,182,157 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN traded up $0.79 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $482.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,197,238 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,047,839. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $469.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $461.48. The stock has a market cap of $226.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.33, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.92.

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 the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.63.

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.