Conning Inc. Trims Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Conning Inc. cut its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,829 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 151 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,327,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth about $41,000. eCIO Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth about $45,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its stake in shares of Linde by 445.0% during the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 109 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth about $52,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $520.00.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $453.82 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 company has a market capitalization of $212.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.28, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $474.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $464.49. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $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, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. 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 currently 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.