Focus Partners Wealth Grows Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,405 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,380 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in Linde were worth $56,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Linde by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 387,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $165,158,000 after acquiring an additional 89,709 shares in the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,680 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170 shares in the last quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $70,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in Linde by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 195,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $83,343,000 after acquiring an additional 15,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP grew its position in Linde by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP now owns 90,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,537,000 after acquiring an additional 4,016 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $521.48 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $505.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $472.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $387.78 and a 12-month high of $525.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $241.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.72.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. Analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $541.91.

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.