MBB Public Markets I LLC Takes Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• MBB Public Markets I LLC invested approximately $323,000 to acquire 694 shares of Linde PLC, indicating significant interest from institutional investors in the basic materials company.
• Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares at an average price of $473.38, decreasing his position by 9.48% while still maintaining a substantial ownership valued at approximately $227 million.
• Analysts have upgraded Linde's stock ratings, with Citigroup raising its price target from $500.00 to $535.00, contributing to an average buy rating and a consensus price target of $519.63.

MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 694 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $323,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted 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 buying an additional 453,108 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted 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 buying an additional 1,182,157 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth approximately $2,097,793,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted 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 buying an additional 40,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 3,410,087 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.3%

LIN stock traded down $1.55 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $482.04. 2,069,711 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,623,274. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $472.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $462.93. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $226.03 billion, a PE ratio of 34.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.95. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 last 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, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. 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 1.2%. Linde's payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on LIN. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada began 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. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.63.

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.