Franklin Resources Inc. Has $1.58 Billion Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,705,073 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 189,953 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,579,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,953,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,167,559,000 after purchasing an additional 354,800 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,319,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,176,828,000 after purchasing an additional 172,162 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,353,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,820,533,000 after purchasing an additional 35,945 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Linde by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,127,594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,318,325,000 after purchasing an additional 797,866 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $3,246,750,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $507.90 on Monday. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $521.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $234.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $503.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $468.37.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion during 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 revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. DZ Bank cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Linde from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.91.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total transaction of $2,094,802.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,643,729.02. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.