Vident Advisory LLC Purchases 8,808 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Linde PLC by 69.8%, owning 21,424 shares valued at $9,975,000 as of the end of the last quarter.
• Linde reported $4.09 earnings per share for the most recent quarter, surpassing analysts' estimates of $4.03, and a revenue increase of 2.3% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.3% and a dividend payout ratio of 42.67%.

Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 69.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,424 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,808 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $9,975,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strategy Asset Managers LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 2.8% in the first quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 834 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 2.5% in the first quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $450,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Linde by 0.8% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,493,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 3.0% in the first quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 816 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Enterprise Financial Services Corp boosted its stake in Linde by 3.9% in the first quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 647 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 0.5%

LIN stock traded down $2.49 on Wednesday, reaching $471.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,379,529 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,045,309. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $471.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $462.16. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $221.16 billion, a PE ratio of 33.55, a PEG ratio of 3.16 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.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.85 earnings per share. The firm's 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. As a group, research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 42.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $519.63.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was 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 owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.