Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Sells 3,485 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 14.3%, holding 20,935 shares worth approximately $9.75 million after selling 3,485 shares in the first quarter.
• Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde for about $23.82 million, decreasing his ownership by 9.48% while still holding approximately 480,543 shares.
• Linde recently disclosed a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $6.00 with a yield of 1.2%.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lessened its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 14.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 3,485 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.'s holdings in Linde were worth $9,748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Groupe la Francaise raised its position in Linde by 13.0% in the first quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 210,199 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $96,790,000 after purchasing an additional 24,185 shares in the last quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde by 4.9% in the first quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 5,849 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,724,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Maren Capital LLC raised its position in Linde by 7.7% in the first quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 238,449 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $111,032,000 after purchasing an additional 17,123 shares in the last quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde by 21.7% in the first quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,292 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $601,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategies Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde by 29.4% in the first quarter. Strategies Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,067,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN traded down $3.86 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $478.29. 2,058,214 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,562,003. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $471.33 and a 200 day moving average of $461.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.02, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.92.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.85 earnings per share. Linde's revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.300-16.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 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.