Perpetual Ltd Sells 16,251 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Perpetual Ltd reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 7.9%, selling 16,251 shares and currently holding 189,602 shares, which are valued at approximately $88.96 million.
• Several institutional investors, including North Capital Inc. and Putney Financial Group LLC, have recently purchased new stakes in Linde, indicating a strong interest as 82.80% of the company's stock is owned by institutional investors.
• Analysts have raised Linde's target prices, with Citigroup increasing its price target from $500.00 to $535.00 and a consensus target price of $519.63 across multiple firms, reflecting a positive outlook on the stock.

Perpetual Ltd decreased its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 7.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 189,602 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 16,251 shares during the period. Linde comprises approximately 1.0% of Perpetual Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Perpetual Ltd's holdings in Linde were worth $88,957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Breakwater Capital Group lifted its position in shares of Linde by 2.3% during the second quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 980 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 834 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.8% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,493,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 816 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $380,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $3.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $479.01. The stock had a trading volume of 3,725,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,761,068. The company has a 50 day moving average of $473.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $463.35. 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 PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $224.61 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.95.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during 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 company's revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm 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. Research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.67%.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the firm's 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 in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company 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.