Linde PLC $LIN Shares Sold by Quantbot Technologies LP

Key Points

• Quantbot Technologies LP reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 75.3%, selling 6,508 shares and leaving it with 2,134 shares valued at approximately $994,000.
• Linde's stock price has seen a recent uptick of 0.2%, with shares opening at $481.67 and an average target price from analysts at $519.63.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.2% and a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Quantbot Technologies LP cut its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 75.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,134 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 6,508 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP's holdings in Linde were worth $994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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 increased their target price 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, Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Two 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $519.63.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related 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 value of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of LIN stock traded down $0.72 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $481.99. 884,505 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,048,092. The stock has a market cap of $226.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's fifty day moving average is $470.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $461.63. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. Linde's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm 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 predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.67%.

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.