Wedbush Securities Inc. Makes New Investment in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Wedbush Securities purchased 8,552 shares of Linde valued at approximately $4.1 million during the third quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 82.8% of Linde’s stock.
• Analysts maintain a positive outlook, with the stock receiving a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $547.10. Recent targets ranged 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, representing a 1.3% annualized yield.

Wedbush Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,552 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $4,059,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Flossbach Von Storch SE purchased a new position in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at about $438,525,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 719,052 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 162.9% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,097,110 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $543,951,000 after acquiring an additional 679,738 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 394.8% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 629,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $312,240,000 after acquiring an additional 502,520 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 2,320.1% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 464,011 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $230,038,000 after acquiring an additional 444,838 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LIN. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Linde from $612.00 to $574.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 5th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $542.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $580.00 price target on shares of Linde and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $547.10.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded down $1.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $508.83. 1,665,640 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,058,353. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.88. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $548.20. The stock has a market cap of $234.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $480.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $498.37.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $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. On average, equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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