Wesbanco Bank Inc. Buys 3,439 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its holdings in Linde PLC by 13.3%, acquiring an additional 3,439 shares, bringing its total to 29,281 shares valued at approximately $13.7 million.
• Multiple analysts have upgraded Linde's stock, with Citigroup raising its price target from $500 to $535 while maintaining a "buy" rating, reflecting strong market optimism.
• Linde recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, indicating a consistent commitment to shareholder returns, with an annualized yield of 1.2%.

Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,281 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 3,439 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $13,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,600,297 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,470,284,000 after buying an additional 453,108 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 18.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,542,991 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,511,751,000 after buying an additional 1,182,157 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth about $2,097,793,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,859,539 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,797,156,000 after buying an additional 40,931 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 58,312.0% in 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 buying an additional 3,410,087 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Linde

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $3.41 during trading on Friday, reaching $479.41. The stock had a trading volume of 1,136,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,025,344. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $224.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 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. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $473.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $463.26.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.67%.

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.