Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Makes New $1.16 Million Investment in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Meridian Investment Counsel acquired 2,448 shares of Linde worth approximately $1.16 million, while institutional investors collectively own 82.8% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish on Linde, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $547.29; multiple firms maintain buy or outperform ratings.
• Linde reported quarterly earnings of $4.50 per share and revenue of $9.29 billion, exceeding estimates, and paid a quarterly dividend of $1.60 per share, yielding about 1.3% annually.

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,448 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,162,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Linde by 3.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,344,181 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,558,016,000 after buying an additional 719,052 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Linde by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,402,317 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,303,494,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114,751 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Linde by 13.4% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,162,409 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,567,796,000 after acquiring an additional 373,012 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Linde by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,740,541 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,358,712,000 after acquiring an additional 64,078 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Linde by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,250,532 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $959,605,000 after acquiring an additional 343,161 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, October 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $580.00 target price on Linde and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Linde from $580.00 to $560.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $547.29.

Linde Trading Up 0.1%

LIN opened at $492.70 on Thursday. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $387.78 and a 1-year high of $548.20. 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 company has a market cap of $227.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $478.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $498.13.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.43% and a return on equity of 20.09%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $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. Analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is 41.34%.

Linde Profile

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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