Northern Trust Corp Lowers Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 1.3%, selling 64,881 shares, and now owns approximately 4.86 million shares valued at $2.26 billion.
• Linde recently reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analyst expectations, with revenue of $8.50 billion and a year-over-year revenue increase of 2.3%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50, with a yield of 1.2%, set to be paid on September 18th.

Northern Trust Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,860,441 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 64,881 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.03% of Linde worth $2,263,216,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. North Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $0.96 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $481.67. The company had a trading volume of 1,782,427 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,061,979. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $468.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $460.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $225.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.92.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $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 anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Linde's payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.