Sky Investment Group LLC Cuts Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Sky Investment Group LLC decreased its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 27,720 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 28 shares during the period. Linde comprises 2.3% of Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $13,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group bought a new stake in Linde in the second quarter valued at $131,000. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC lifted its position in Linde by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 7,545 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,540,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Carderock Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,411,000. Marshall Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $929,000. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its position in Linde by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 1,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $883,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Down 0.8%

LIN stock opened at $476.00 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $223.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $473.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $463.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its 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. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total value of $23,815,274.42. Following the sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup raised Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $519.63.

About Linde

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.