Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Buys 30,957 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Farmers & Merchants Investments acquired 30,957 Linde shares during the third quarter, valued at approximately $14.7 million. Institutional investors collectively own 82.8% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly optimistic, with Linde receiving a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $547.10; three analysts rate it a Strong Buy, 19 a Buy and two a Hold.
• Linde exceeded quarterly expectations with $4.50 in EPS and $9.29 billion in revenue, while reporting 9.3% year-over-year revenue growth. The company also pays a $6.40 annualized dividend, yielding about 1.3%.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 30,957 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $14,694,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its position in Linde by 12.9% during the second quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 175 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 4,159 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,062,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group lifted its position in shares of Linde by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group now owns 652 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its position in Linde by 74.2% in the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 54 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Towercrest Capital Management grew its position in Linde by 2.8% during the third quarter. Towercrest Capital Management now owns 918 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $436,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Berenberg Bank reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $532.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Linde from $580.00 to $560.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $612.00 to $574.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $547.10.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $508.83 on Friday. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $548.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $480.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $498.37. The company has a market capitalization of $234.56 billion, a PE ratio of 32.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 20.09% and a net margin of 20.43%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.09 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.700-17.900 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 4.450-4.550 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business 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 of this dividend was Thursday, September 3rd. Linde's payout ratio is currently 41.34%.

Linde Profile

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.

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