Vancity Investment Management Ltd Takes Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Vancity Investment Management Ltd acquired 29,414 shares of Linde PLC, valued at approximately $13.7 million, constituting 1.9% of its overall holdings.
• Analysts have generally given Linde a favorable outlook, with an average rating of "Buy" and a price target of $519.63.
• Linde recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, indicating a 1.3% dividend yield for stockholders.

Vancity Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 29,414 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $13,696,000. Linde makes up approximately 1.9% of Vancity Investment Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 75.0% during the first quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 193,563 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $90,131,000 after purchasing an additional 82,952 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 9.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Exane Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at $295,000. Hourglass Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at $935,000. Finally, Ethos Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at $345,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded down $1.55 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $482.04. 2,069,711 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,617,354. The stock's fifty day moving average is $472.66 and its 200-day moving average is $462.90. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $226.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.28, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.95. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business posted $3.85 earnings per share. The company'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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde 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 owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, 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 link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.