Linde PLC $LIN Shares Sold by Northstar Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Northstar Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in Linde PLC by 17.1% in Q1, owning 32,720 shares valued at approximately $15.24 million, making it the firm’s 6th largest position.
• Linde reported earnings of $4.09 per share for the latest quarter, exceeding estimates and showing a revenue increase of 2.3% year-over-year, totaling $8.50 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.2%, with the ex-dividend date set for September 4th.

Northstar Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 17.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,720 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 6,764 shares during the period. Linde comprises approximately 4.5% of Northstar Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Northstar Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $15,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Linde by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,857,741,000 after acquiring an additional 554,480 shares during the last quarter. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,128,233,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Linde by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,925,322 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,062,085,000 after acquiring an additional 500,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,097,793,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note 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 issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.63.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock traded down $1.65 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $480.71. 1,238,426 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,063,729. The firm has a market capitalization of $225.41 billion, a PE ratio of 34.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.92. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $468.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $460.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.Linde's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last 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 forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.67%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the 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 transaction, the director owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde 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.