Linde PLC $LIN Shares Acquired by Groupe la Francaise

Groupe la Francaise increased its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 210,199 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,185 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up approximately 2.0% of Groupe la Francaise’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Groupe la Francaise’s holdings in Linde were worth $96,790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. North Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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 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 $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $519.63.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $481.67 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $469.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $461.12. The firm has a market cap of $225.86 billion, a PE ratio of 34.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.92. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.85 EPS. The company’s quarterly 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 analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 42.67%.

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.