Prospera Financial Services Inc Grows Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 178.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 44,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,482 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Linde were worth $20,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LIN. eCIO Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth $52,000. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management increased its holdings in Linde by 5,800.0% in the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $420.51 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $459.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $463.26. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $486.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $196.36 billion, a PE ratio of 29.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Linde from $576.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lowered 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $475.00 to $455.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $516.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.83.

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.