Parnassus Investments LLC Sells 110,357 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Parnassus Investments LLC has reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 5.1%, now holding approximately $954 million worth of shares, representing 2.3% of its investment portfolio.
• Linde PLC recently reported a quarterly EPS of $4.09, exceeding the consensus estimate, with a revenue of $8.50 billion, marking a 2.3% year-over-year increase.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 1.2%, with a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Parnassus Investments LLC lessened its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 5.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,049,551 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 110,357 shares during the period. Linde makes up approximately 2.3% of Parnassus Investments LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Parnassus Investments LLC owned 0.44% of Linde worth $954,353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.63.

Linde Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of LIN stock traded down $4.24 on Tuesday, hitting $474.05. 881,635 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,050,851. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $471.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $462.07. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The business 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 revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.85 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.300-16.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.20 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.