30,957 Shares in Linde PLC $LIN Purchased by Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. bought a new position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 30,957 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,694,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Linde by 3.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,344,181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,558,016,000 after acquiring an additional 719,052 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Linde by 13.4% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,162,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,567,796,000 after buying an additional 373,012 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Linde by 2.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,740,541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,358,712,000 after purchasing an additional 64,078 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 28.6% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,624,728 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $805,475,000 after purchasing an additional 361,664 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Linde by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,370,361 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $679,370,000 after purchasing an additional 85,360 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $508.83 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $480.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $498.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company has a market capitalization of $234.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.71. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.49 by $0.01. Linde had a net margin of 20.43% and a return on equity of 20.09%. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.09 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd were paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on LIN. Evercore boosted their price target on Linde from $515.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Linde from $580.00 to $560.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $542.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $553.00 to $549.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, DZ Bank reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $547.10.

About Linde

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It produces and distributes atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide and specialty gases. The company serves customers through packaged gases, bulk deliveries, on-site production and pipeline systems.

Linde’s products and services support a broad range of industries, including healthcare, food and beverage, manufacturing, chemicals, energy, refining, electronics and metals.