Linde PLC $LIN Shares Sold by Rafferty Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC sold 11,076 shares of Linde PLC, reducing its holdings by 15.5% to a total of 60,539 shares valued at approximately $28.19 million.
• Several other institutional investors have increased their stakes in Linde, with Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec growing its position by 35.7% and Ally Financial Inc. doubling its investment during the first quarter.
• Linde recently reported a quarterly earnings beat with an EPS of $4.09, surpassing expectations of $4.03, and announced a dividend of $1.50 per share set for distribution on September 18th.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 15.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 60,539 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 11,076 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $28,189,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlTi Global Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $971,000. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in Linde by 75.0% during the 1st quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 193,563 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $90,131,000 after purchasing an additional 82,952 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC increased its stake in Linde by 9.6% in the first 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. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $468,360,000. Finally, Exane Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth about $295,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Two research 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, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $519.63.

Insider Activity

In related 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 owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $3.86 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $478.29. 2,058,214 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,562,003. The firm's 50-day moving average is $471.33 and its 200-day moving average is $461.90. The stock has a market cap of $224.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.92. 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 PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The business's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business 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. Equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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 given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is currently 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.