Spire Wealth Management Sells 6,979 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Spire Wealth Management cut its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 42.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,533 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 6,979 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at about $2,097,793,000. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Linde by 172.4% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,407,637 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,121,092,000 after buying an additional 1,523,702 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Linde by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,542,991 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,511,751,000 after buying an additional 1,182,157 shares during the period. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt acquired a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter worth approximately $233,405,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in 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 worth $4,470,284,000 after acquiring an additional 453,108 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $432.01 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $467.68 and a 200 day moving average of $464.82. The company has a market capitalization of $202.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.73, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $486.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 firm earned $3.85 earnings per share. 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director owned 480,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price 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.