National Pension Service Lowers Stock Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

National Pension Service reduced its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 942,892 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 65,676 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Linde were worth $442,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 186,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,549,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its position in Linde by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 23,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,970,000 after purchasing an additional 4,839 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $345,000. Finally, Davis Rea LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $4,852,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Up 1.4%

LIN stock opened at $426.65 on Wednesday. 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 PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $486.38. The company’s 50 day moving average is $456.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $463.07. The stock has a market cap of $199.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.34, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.91.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $8.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.94 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.350-16.450 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS. Research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $576.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $516.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently 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.