Nationale Nederlanden Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Decreases Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Nationale Nederlanden Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. cut its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 16.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 64,309 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 12,500 shares during the period. Linde comprises approximately 2.4% of Nationale Nederlanden Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Nationale Nederlanden Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A.’s holdings in Linde were worth $27,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 3,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,790,000 after buying an additional 1,145 shares during the last quarter. Signet Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $701,000. VeraBank N.A. raised its stake in Linde by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $514,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 23,251 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,914,000 after buying an additional 1,398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC now owns 675 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $552.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Seaport Research Partners boosted 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 reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. 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 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $541.91.

Linde Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of LIN stock opened at $509.16 on Thursday. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $522.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $503.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $470.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $235.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.81, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.72.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.60 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 19.80%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.95 EPS. 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 predict that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. 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.