William Blair Investment Management LLC Decreases Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 12.6% during the second quarter, now holding 604,026 shares worth approximately $283 million.
• Linde reported a quarterly earnings increase to $4.09 per share, surpassing analyst expectations, along with a revenue of $8.50 billion, reflecting a 2.3% year-over-year increase.
• Several analysts have updated their price targets for Linde, with a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $520.00.

William Blair Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 604,026 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 86,788 shares during the period. Linde makes up approximately 0.8% of William Blair Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 0.13% of Linde worth $283,397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth $41,000. eCIO Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth $45,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its position in shares of Linde by 445.0% during the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 109 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Up 1.5%

NASDAQ LIN opened at $450.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $211.43 billion, a PE ratio of 32.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.93. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.27. The firm's fifty day moving average is $472.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $464.11.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $3.85 earnings per share. Linde'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. 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 was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 42.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $520.00.

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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