Linde PLC $LIN Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 10.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 912,087 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 109,801 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Linde worth $452,184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Triumph Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Linde by 69.2% in the fourth quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 66 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Saranac Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Strengthening Families & Communities LLC lifted its position in Linde by 134.5% during the 4th quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 68 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $541.75.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $524.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $242.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $514.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $488.88. 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 PLC has a 1-year low of $387.78 and a 1-year high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last 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, research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.50%.

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.