Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC lessened its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,684 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 134 shares during the quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Linde by 5.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,600,297 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,470,284,000 after acquiring an additional 453,108 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Linde by 18.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,542,991 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,511,751,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182,157 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,097,793,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 1.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,859,539 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,797,156,000 after acquiring an additional 40,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 1.9% in the second quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,401,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,577,624,000 after acquiring an additional 61,829 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $418.68 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $465.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $464.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market cap of $196.32 billion, a PE ratio of 29.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.93. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $486.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.94 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.350-16.450 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup increased their price target on Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $521.60.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director owned 480,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,479,445.34. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.