Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO Grows Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO grew its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 24.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,135 shares during the period. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meadowbrook Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Meadowbrook Advisors Group LLC now owns 511 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $253,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Blalock Williams LLC lifted its position in Linde by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Blalock Williams LLC now owns 510 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $217,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 1,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Binnacle Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Linde by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA grew its position in Linde by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 711 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, May 4th. Seaport Research Partners upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $541.91.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $512.15 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $236.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.01, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $506.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $475.75. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $525.87.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.60 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.95 earnings per share. 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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. 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.