Linde PLC $LIN Stake Lifted by Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. boosted its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 121,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 14,149 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up about 1.4% of Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Linde were worth $57,127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $2,097,793,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Linde by 172.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,523,702 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Linde by 18.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake 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 valued at $4,470,284,000 after acquiring an additional 453,108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at about $197,019,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on LIN. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $516.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Linde from $475.00 to $455.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $508.83.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $407.85 on Wednesday. Linde PLC has a one year low of $406.09 and a one year high of $486.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $445.23 and a 200 day moving average of $460.63. 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 company has a market capitalization of $190.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.01, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.91.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The firm had revenue of $8.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly 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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 40.19%.

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.