First Merchants Corp Cuts Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

First Merchants Corp lessened its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,269 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,071 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $9,041,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 24.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $701,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $890,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Portside Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $467.83 on Thursday. 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 PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.37 billion, a PE ratio of 33.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $474.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $464.52.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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 expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio is 42.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total value of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. 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 target for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $520.00.

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.