Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 211 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,423 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 211 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. eCIO Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth approximately $45,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its position in shares of Linde by 445.0% in the first 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. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth approximately $52,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group cut their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $520.00.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $453.82 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $212.80 billion, a PE ratio of 32.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.93. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $474.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $464.51.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during 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 firm’s 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. Equities research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th were paid 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 yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.67%.

Linde Company 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.