KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Raises Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 170,074 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 6,100 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in Linde were worth $79,795,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Breakwater Capital Group lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC increased its position in Linde by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 834 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $388,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Linde by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Linde by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. increased its position in Linde by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 816 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $380,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group dropped their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $520.00.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $468.55 on Tuesday. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $474.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $464.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.71 billion, a PE ratio of 33.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.93. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.85 EPS. 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. Research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 42.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 480,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was 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. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.