Stephens Inc. AR Boosts Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,648 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,465,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. North Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. eCIO Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at 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 valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $52,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of LIN opened at $450.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $471.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $464.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.01, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $486.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.85 EPS. 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 forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group dropped their price target on 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 boosted their price target on Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $520.00.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company’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 directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.