Groupe la Francaise Lowers Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Groupe la Francaise cut its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 119,122 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,315 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise’s holdings in Linde were worth $61,528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Linde by 67,391.2% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 365,698,575 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $189,775,619,000 after purchasing an additional 365,156,729 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,319,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,176,828,000 after buying an additional 172,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,353,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,820,533,000 after buying an additional 35,945 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Linde by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,127,594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,318,325,000 after buying an additional 797,866 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Linde by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,784,371 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,171,959,000 after buying an additional 695,771 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $477.57 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $220.15 billion, a PE ratio of 30.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $502.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $501.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.02 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 20.09% and a net margin of 20.43%.The business’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $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. Analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 41.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Linde from $576.00 to $553.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Linde from $560.00 to $546.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Linde from $559.00 to $564.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $600.00 to $580.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $545.38.

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.