Wedmont Private Capital Increases Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,666 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Breakwater Capital Group boosted its stake in Linde by 2.3% during the second quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Strategy Asset Managers LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 2.8% during the first quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 834 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 2.5% during the first quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.8% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,493,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.0% in the first quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 816 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $476.00 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $223.20 billion, a PE ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $473.12 and its 200 day moving average is $463.26.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.85 EPS. Linde’s revenue 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.