Markel Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Markel Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 186,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $87,549,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Breakwater Capital Group lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.3% during the second quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Canopy Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.9% during the second quarter. Canopy Partners LLC now owns 788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.9% during the second quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA now owns 1,192 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $559,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Clarendon Private LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.0% during the second quarter. Clarendon Private LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,066,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Strategy Asset Managers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup raised their target price on Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $520.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 480,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $442.72 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $207.60 billion, a PE ratio of 31.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $486.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $468.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $464.89.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The business’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.85 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.300-16.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.20 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.67%.

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.