Acadian Asset Management LLC Grows Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 588.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 68,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 58,345 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $31,775,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 16.5% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 122,188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $56,897,000 after purchasing an additional 17,327 shares in the last quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at $385,000. SCS Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at $360,000. Finally, Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 40,228 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,732,000 after purchasing an additional 11,633 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $472.70 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $472.38 and a 200 day moving average of $462.62. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.95.

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. On average, research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $519.63.

About Linde

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.