CNB Bank Decreases Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

CNB Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 29.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 251 shares during the quarter. CNB Bank’s holdings in Linde were worth $277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. North Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,000. eCIO Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $45,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 445.0% in the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 109 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter worth $52,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business’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 sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $446.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $209.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72, a PEG ratio of 2.97 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 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $486.38. The business’s 50 day moving average is $470.10 and its 200 day moving average is $464.34.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.85 earnings per share. Linde’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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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 decreased their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $520.00.

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.