Wellington Management Group LLP Buys 1,182,157 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Linde PLC by 18.6%, owning approximately 7.54 million shares valued at over $3.5 billion, making Linde its 26th largest position.
• Significant trading activity included insider sales, with VP Sean Durbin selling 7,261 shares and Director Stephen F. Angel selling 50,309 shares, resulting in decreases of 47.11% and 9.48% in their respective positions.
• Analysts have expressed positive sentiments for Linde, with a consensus rating of "Buy" and increased price targets from multiple firms, including UBS raising its target to $504.00.

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 18.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,542,991 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,182,157 shares during the period. Linde accounts for approximately 0.7% of Wellington Management Group LLP's portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 1.60% of Linde worth $3,511,751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,128,233,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Linde by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,925,322 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,062,085,000 after buying an additional 500,489 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,097,793,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Linde by 1.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,859,539 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,797,156,000 after acquiring an additional 40,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 58,312.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,590,596,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410,087 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the 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 approximately $227,479,445.34. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded up $0.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $481.67. The company had a trading volume of 1,782,427 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,061,979. The company has a market cap of $225.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.92. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $468.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $460.94.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.Linde's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.85 EPS. 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 research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Linde's payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.