Rockland Trust Co. Sells 1,184 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Rockland Trust Co. reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 4.6% in the second quarter, holding $11.56 million worth of shares after selling 1,184 shares during the period.
• Linde reported earnings per share of $4.09 in its latest quarterly results, surpassing analyst expectations of $4.03, and also announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Buy" for Linde with an average price target of $519.63, reflecting confidence in the company’s performance amidst recent stock activities.

Rockland Trust Co. lowered its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,631 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,184 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co.'s holdings in Linde were worth $11,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded up $3.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $479.01. 3,725,607 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,663,088. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $224.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $473.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $463.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.85 earnings per share. Linde's revenue for the quarter 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. On average, equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were issued 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 was Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business'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 value of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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.