Linde PLC $LIN Shares Sold by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB reduced its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 214,614 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,636 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Linde were worth $111,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 354,800 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Linde by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,319,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,176,828,000 after purchasing an additional 172,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Linde by 0.3% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 35,945 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Linde by 8.6% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Linde by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,784,371 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,171,959,000 after purchasing an additional 695,771 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Linde from $559.00 to $564.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Linde from $560.00 to $546.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $600.00 to $580.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Seaport Research Partners raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $545.38.

Linde Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $492.46 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $227.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.81, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.72. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $548.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $513.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $498.68.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.49 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 20.09% and a net margin of 20.43%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.09 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.700-17.900 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 4.450-4.550 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.34%.

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.