Fifth Third Bancorp Has $114.92 Million Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Fifth Third Bancorp lowered its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 269,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 11,507 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Linde were worth $114,924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth $27,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth $29,000. Saranac Partners Ltd bought a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth $30,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total value of $3,111,800.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total value of $2,094,802.03. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,332 shares of company stock worth $9,749,257. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Seaport Research Partners upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on Linde from $550.00 to $579.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Linde from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $527.80.

Linde Stock Down 0.7%

Linde stock opened at $501.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $232.22 billion, a PE ratio of 34.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.78. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $515.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a 50 day moving average of $496.93 and a 200-day moving average of $456.09.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.97 earnings per share. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.87%.

About Linde

Linde (NASDAQ: LIN) is a multinational industrial gases and engineering company that supplies gases, related technologies and services to a wide range of industries. The company traces its current form to the 2018 combination of Germany’s Linde AG and U.S.-based Praxair, creating one of the largest global providers of industrial, specialty and medical gases. Linde’s business model centers on production, processing and distribution of gases as well as the design and construction of the plants and equipment needed to produce them.

Core products and services include atmospheric and process gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon; hydrogen and helium; carbon dioxide; and a portfolio of higher?value specialty and electronic gases.