First Manhattan CO. LLC. Increases Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 721,360 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 46,161 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up about 0.8% of First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Linde were worth $307,580,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,953,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $19,167,559,000 after buying an additional 354,800 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Linde by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,353,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,820,533,000 after buying an additional 35,945 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Linde by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,127,594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,318,325,000 after buying an additional 797,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Linde by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,784,371 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,171,959,000 after buying an additional 695,771 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $515.85 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $238.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.72. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $525.87. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $505.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $474.29.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.95 EPS. Linde’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Seaport Research Partners upped their price objective on Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.91.

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.