New England Research & Management Inc. Makes New $1.09 Million Investment in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• New England Research & Management Inc. has acquired a new stake in Linde PLC, purchasing 2,330 shares valued at approximately $1,093,000 in the second quarter.
• Brokerage firms have issued various ratings for Linde, with UBS Group raising the target price to $504.00 and maintaining a "neutral" rating, while Royal Bank of Canada set a target of $576.00 with an "outperform" rating.
• Linde recently reported quarterly earnings of $4.09 per share, exceeding the consensus estimate of $4.03, alongside revenues of $8.50 billion, which reflects a 2.3% increase year-over-year.

New England Research & Management Inc. bought a new position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,330 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,093,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $519.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 sale, the director directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $3.01 on Friday, reaching $479.01. 3,725,607 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,663,088. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $473.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $463.38. The firm has a market cap of $224.61 billion, a PE ratio of 34.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.95. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS 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 analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were 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 of this dividend was Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is presently 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.