Linde PLC $LIN Shares Acquired by WCM Investment Management LLC

WCM Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,401,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,829 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up about 3.6% of WCM Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. WCM Investment Management LLC owned 0.72% of Linde worth $1,577,624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. eCIO Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 445.0% during the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 109 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 value of $23,815,274.42. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $520.00.

Linde Trading Down 1.7%

LIN opened at $451.42 on Thursday. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.68 billion, a PE ratio of 32.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $473.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $464.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 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 firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.85 earnings per share. The firm’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. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.67%.

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.