Polaris Capital Management LLC Has $78.95 Million Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Polaris Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 29.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 168,269 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 69,351 shares during the period. Linde accounts for approximately 5.3% of Polaris Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Polaris Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $78,948,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 249,742 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $117,174,000 after acquiring an additional 3,230 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Linde by 75.0% during the 1st quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 193,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $90,131,000 after purchasing an additional 82,952 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC raised its position in Linde by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 6,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,841,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its position in Linde by 25.9% during the 1st quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 23,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,970,000 after purchasing an additional 4,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hourglass Capital LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter worth $935,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $466.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $474.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $464.31. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $218.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.20, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.85 EPS. The business’s revenue 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Citigroup raised Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $519.63.

Insider Activity at Linde

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

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.