Swiss National Bank Trims Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Swiss National Bank cut its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,285,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 71,900 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Linde were worth $547,912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,953,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $19,167,559,000 after purchasing an additional 354,800 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of 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 increased its holdings in shares of 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 shares of 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 valued at $4,318,325,000 after purchasing an additional 797,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,246,750,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Seaport Research Partners lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.91.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $515.44 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $504.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $471.14. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $522.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.83.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.50%.

Linde Company 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.