Confluence Investment Management LLC Makes New $122.63 Million Investment in Linde PLC $LIN

Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 258,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,632,000. Linde comprises 1.9% of Confluence Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 74.2% during the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 54 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID lifted its position in shares of Linde by 96.6% during the 1st quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 57 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 1,450.0% in the first quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 257.1% in the first quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 75 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $576.00 to $553.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $560.00 to $546.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Linde from $580.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 price objective (up from $559.00) on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $547.05.

Linde Trading Down 1.4%

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $6.42 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $468.23. 787,015 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,328,393. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week 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 firm has a market capitalization of $215.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.22, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $481.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $498.52.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.49 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.43% and a return on equity of 20.09%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.09 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.700-17.900 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 4.450-4.550 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 41.34%.

Linde Profile

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) is a global industrial gases and engineering company that supplies gases, related equipment and process technologies to customers in healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, energy, food and beverage, electronics, and other industries. Its products include oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide and specialty gases.

The company provides gases through on-site production facilities, pipelines, bulk deliveries and packaged cylinders. It also designs and builds industrial gas plants and offers technologies and services for applications such as hydrogen production, carbon capture, clean energy, semiconductor manufacturing, metal fabrication and medical care.

Linde traces its history to 1879, when German engineer Carl von Linde developed refrigeration and gas-related technologies.