Linde PLC $LIN Holdings Increased by Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 21.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,612 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,189 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,997,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. AlTi Global Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 8.2% in the third quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 2,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,065,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its position in shares of Linde by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 46,035 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,906 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 7,618 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,618,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 474 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $225,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $460.51 on Wednesday. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $486.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $433.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $447.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.04 billion, a PE ratio of 31.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The business had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday. DZ Bank cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $516.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.20.

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.