Swedbank AB Boosts Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Swedbank AB increased its stake in Linde PLC by 11.3% during the first quarter, holding 915,320 shares valued at approximately $426.2 million.
• Linde's earnings per share for the last quarter were reported at $4.09, surpassing analysts' expectations, with a revenue increase of 2.3% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 1.2%.

Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 11.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 915,320 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 92,762 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned about 0.19% of Linde worth $426,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Maple Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at about $214,000. 1248 Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at about $211,000. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. bought a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter worth approximately $15,506,000. eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Cim LLC lifted its position in Linde by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Cim LLC now owns 530 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $519.63.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $483.59 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $226.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.39, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.95. 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. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $472.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $462.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.85 earnings per share. The company's quarterly 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is currently 42.67%.

Linde 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.

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