Riverbridge Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Riverbridge Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 736.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,779 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 71,122 shares during the quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $40,047,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. grew its position in Linde by 56.8% in the first quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 1,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $872,000 after acquiring an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. raised its position in Linde by 62.9% during the first quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. now owns 958 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $475,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 33.0% in the 1st quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. now owns 133 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 257.1% in the 1st quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 75 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Western Pacific Wealth Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $541.91.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $512.90 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $506.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $477.24. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $525.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $237.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.72.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.95 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.50%.

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.