Optas LLC Acquires 173 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Optas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,568 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Optas LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the second quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 249,742 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $117,174,000 after purchasing an additional 3,230 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 75.0% in the first quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 193,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $90,131,000 after purchasing an additional 82,952 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 9.6% in the first quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 6,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,841,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 25.9% in the first quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 23,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,970,000 after purchasing an additional 4,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hourglass Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at about $935,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 480,543 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $467.83 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $474.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $464.52. The company has a market cap of $219.37 billion, a PE ratio of 33.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The business’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.85 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.300-16.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.20 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Citigroup lifted their target price on Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Two investment 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus 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.