North Star Asset Management Inc. Takes Position in Linde PLC $LIN

North Star Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,246,750,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 42,539.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,321,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $56,361,000 after buying an additional 1,318,709 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Linde by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,610,387 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,245,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275,477 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Linde by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,941,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,680,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,001 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Linde by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,402,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,303,494,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114,751 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 research firms recently weighed in on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Linde from $576.00 to $553.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Linde from $559.00 to $564.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $580.00 price objective on Linde in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $545.38.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock opened at $489.51 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $505.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $501.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $225.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.72. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.49 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.43% and a return on equity of 20.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.09 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.700-17.900 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 4.450-4.550 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 17.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 41.34%.

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.