37,856 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN Acquired by Congress Asset Management Co.

Key Points

• Congress Asset Management acquired 37,856 Linde shares worth approximately $17.97 million during the third quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 82.8% of Linde’s outstanding stock.
• Analysts maintain a positive outlook, with Linde receiving a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $546.80. Recent targets range from $542 to $580.
• Linde reported quarterly EPS of $4.50, slightly above estimates, while revenue rose 9.3% year over year to $9.29 billion. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $1.60, equivalent to a 1.3% annualized yield.

Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 37,856 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $17,969,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Linde by 3.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,402,317 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,303,494,000 after buying an additional 1,114,751 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Linde by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,207,374 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,793,982,000 after acquiring an additional 912,025 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Linde by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,941,719 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,680,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in Linde by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,162,409 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,567,796,000 after acquiring an additional 373,012 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $542.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $576.00 to $553.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Linde from $600.00 to $580.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $546.80.

Linde Stock Up 1.6%

LIN stock opened at $489.95 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $478.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $498.15. The company has a market capitalization of $225.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.65, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.71. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 20.43% and a return on equity of 20.09%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company 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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 3rd were issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 3rd. Linde's payout ratio is currently 41.34%.

About Linde

Linde plc NASDAQ: LIN is a global industrial gases and engineering company that supplies gases, related equipment and process technologies to customers in healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, energy, food and beverage, electronics, and other industries. Its products include oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide and specialty gases.

The company provides gases through on-site production facilities, pipelines, bulk deliveries and packaged cylinders. It also designs and builds industrial gas plants and offers technologies and services for applications such as hydrogen production, carbon capture, clean energy, semiconductor manufacturing, metal fabrication and medical care.

Linde traces its history to 1879, when German engineer Carl von Linde developed refrigeration and gas-related technologies.

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