Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Boosts Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co increased its stake in Linde PLC by 15.8%, owning 9,142 shares valued at $4,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250 shares in the first quarter.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Buy" for Linde, with upgraded target prices from firms like JPMorgan and Citigroup suggesting strong future performance.
• Linde announced a quarterly dividend payment of $1.50 per share, which will be distributed on September 18th, reflecting a 1.3% yield and a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 15.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,142 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 1,250 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co's holdings in Linde were worth $4,257,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. North Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Linde during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the first quarter valued at about $41,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on 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 assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Two 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.63.

Linde Stock Down 0.6%

Linde stock opened at $469.52 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.16 billion, a PE ratio of 33.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.95. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $472.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $462.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.85 EPS. Linde's quarterly revenue 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. On average, analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 42.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business's 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.

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