Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. Has $9.25 Million Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. increased its stake in Linde PLC by 16.4%, now owning 19,860 shares valued at approximately $9.25 million.
• Linde reported $4.09 EPS for its latest quarter, exceeding estimates, with revenue of $8.50 billion, marking a 2.3% year-over-year increase.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 1.3%, set to be paid on September 18th.

Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 16.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,860 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares during the period. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $9,248,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Strategy Asset Managers LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 834 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 2.5% in the first quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $450,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.8% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 3.0% in the first quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 816 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Enterprise Financial Services Corp increased its position in shares of Linde by 3.9% in the first quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 647 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.5%

LIN traded down $2.51 on Wednesday, reaching $470.94. 601,545 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,037,862. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $472.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $462.55. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $220.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.51, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.95. 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 earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company's revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company 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 expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average 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.