Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Sells 11,159 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Lord Abbett & CO. LLC trimmed its Linde position by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 11,159 shares and leaving it with 418,971 shares valued at about $178.6 million.
• Linde reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.33 beating estimates and revenue of $8.78 billion topping expectations, while revenue rose 8.2% year over year.
• Wall Street remains bullish on Linde, with an average “Buy” rating and a consensus price target of $541.91; the company also announced a $1.60 quarterly dividend payable June 18.

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC reduced its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 418,971 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 11,159 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned about 0.09% of Linde worth $178,645,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $19,167,559,000 after purchasing an additional 354,800 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings 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 worth $9,176,828,000 after purchasing an additional 172,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $4,820,533,000 after purchasing an additional 35,945 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings 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 worth $4,318,325,000 after purchasing an additional 797,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,246,750,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $523.57 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $525.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $504.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $471.51. The company has a market cap of $242.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.77, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.72.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.95 earnings per share. Linde's revenue for the quarter 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 42.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Linde from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $541.91.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LIN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.