Franklin Resources Inc. Grows Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,895,026 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 176,650 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.83% of Linde worth $1,850,137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 19.8% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,569 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $736,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 19.3% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 29.3% during the second quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $837,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total value of $4,542,654.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. This represents a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group upped their price target on Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.20.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $477.94 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $510.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $463.95 and a 200 day moving average of $449.88. The company has a market cap of $221.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 20.30%.The business had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.97 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 41.12%.

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.