Parkwood LLC Raises Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Parkwood LLC increased its stake in Linde PLC by 79.2% during the first quarter, now holding 41,973 shares valued at $19.54 million.
• Analysts remain bullish on Linde, with consensus ratings showing two Strong Buy, seven Buy, and two Hold ratings, along with an average target price of $519.63.
• Linde announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, reflecting a 1.3% dividend yield and a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Parkwood LLC boosted its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 79.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,973 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 18,549 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises approximately 1.8% of Parkwood LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Parkwood LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $19,544,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $2,128,233,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the first quarter worth $2,097,793,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Linde by 58,312.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,590,596,000 after acquiring an additional 3,410,087 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Linde by 172.4% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,407,637 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,121,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,523,702 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Linde by 18.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,542,991 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,511,751,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182,157 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Linde Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $0.74 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $472.70. 1,551,411 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,611,574. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.95. The business's fifty day moving average is $472.47 and its 200-day moving average is $462.55.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total value 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 trade 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. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.