Kestra Advisory Services LLC Grows Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 38.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,711 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $12,087,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,953,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $19,167,559,000 after buying an additional 354,800 shares during the last quarter. 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 acquiring an additional 172,162 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $4,820,533,000 after acquiring an additional 35,945 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings 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 valued at $4,318,325,000 after acquiring an additional 797,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Linde by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,784,371 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,171,959,000 after purchasing an additional 695,771 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $552.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $541.75.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $529.79 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $513.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $488.19. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $548.20. The stock has a market cap of $244.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.