Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Boosts Stock Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 45,077 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,584 shares during the quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Linde were worth $22,348,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID boosted 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 acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 1,450.0% in the 1st 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. Triumph Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 69.2% in the 4th quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 66 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strengthening Families & Communities LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 134.5% during the 4th quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 68 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $548.67.

Linde Trading Up 1.2%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $512.28 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $236.85 billion, a PE ratio of 34.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.72. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $548.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $516.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $493.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business 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. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 42.50%.

About Linde

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.