Huntington National Bank Decreases Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Huntington National Bank reduced its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 210,105 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,004 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Linde were worth $89,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blalock Williams LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Blalock Williams LLC now owns 510 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $217,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 1,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $470,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Binnacle Investments Inc raised its position in Linde by 10.2% during the second quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA raised its position in Linde by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 711 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Mayport LLC raised its position in Linde by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Mayport LLC now owns 504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the company’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 transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Linde from $550.00 to $579.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Mizuho set a $525.00 price objective on Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Linde from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $540.00.

Linde Trading Down 1.4%

LIN opened at $507.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $234.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.73. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $500.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $464.50. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $521.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.95 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.50%.

Linde Profile

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.