Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Boosts Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI increased its stake in Linde PLC by 113.7%, acquiring an additional 114,858 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 215,855 shares valued at approximately $100.5 million.
• Linde announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, scheduled for payment to shareholders on September 18, representing an annualized yield of 1.3%.
• In its latest earnings report, Linde exceeded analysts' expectations with $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, and a revenue of $8.50 billion, up 2.3% year-over-year.

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI increased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 113.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 215,855 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 114,858 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI's holdings in Linde were worth $100,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 68,460 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $28,662,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 80.4% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 2,253 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 24,547 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,277,000 after purchasing an additional 567 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $1.55 during trading on Friday, reaching $482.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,069,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,623,274. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $472.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $462.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.03 billion, a PE ratio of 34.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.95.

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, 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 firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.85 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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. On average, research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 42.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on LIN shares. Citigroup raised shares of 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 report on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, 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 objective for the company. Two 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.63.

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.