Praxis Investment Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Praxis Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 13.0%, selling 2,520 shares in the second quarter, bringing its total ownership to 16,824 shares with a value of $7,893,000.
• Several institutional investors made adjustments to their Linde holdings, including Truist Financial Corp., which increased its stake by 75.0%, and Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management, which grew its position by 1.3%.
• Linde's recent earnings report indicated an EPS of $4.09, exceeding expectations, while the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, yielding 1.4% annually.

Praxis Investment Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,824 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,520 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises approximately 0.5% of Praxis Investment Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Praxis Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $7,893,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Linde by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 249,742 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $117,174,000 after acquiring an additional 3,230 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Linde by 75.0% in the first quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 193,563 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $90,131,000 after acquiring an additional 82,952 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 6,102 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,841,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 25.9% in the first quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 23,558 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,970,000 after acquiring an additional 4,839 shares during the period. Finally, Exane Asset Management acquired a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter worth approximately $295,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on LIN shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Citigroup boosted their price target on Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $520.00.

Linde Trading Down 1.6%

Linde stock opened at $444.24 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 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 50-day moving average price of $473.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $464.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $208.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.60, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.85 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.300-16.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.4%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.67%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. 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.

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