Handelsbanken Fonder AB Trims Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 214,614 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,636 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Linde were worth $111,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Meadowbrook Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Meadowbrook Advisors Group LLC now owns 511 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $253,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Blalock Williams LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 1,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.5% during the first quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 4,159 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,062,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Linde from $576.00 to $553.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. UBS Group set a $612.00 price target on Linde in a report on Monday, August 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $560.00 to $546.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $600.00 to $580.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $545.38.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $492.46 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $513.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $498.68. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 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 company has a market cap of $227.01 billion, a PE ratio of 31.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.72.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced 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 return on equity of 20.09% and a net margin of 20.43%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.09 EPS. 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.84 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.34%.

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.