Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Reduces Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lowered its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (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’s holdings in Linde were worth $178,645,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Linde by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,610,387 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,245,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275,477 shares in the last quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 27,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,658,000 after acquiring an additional 2,234 shares in the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its position in shares of Linde by 45.5% in the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 236,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $112,198,000 after buying an additional 73,850 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in shares of Linde by 143.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 15,044 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,415,000 after buying an additional 8,863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG raised its position in shares of Linde by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 83,262 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,493,000 after buying an additional 2,408 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Seaport Research Partners increased their price objective on Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.91.

Linde Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of LIN stock opened at $523.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $242.07 billion, a PE ratio of 34.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.83. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $525.82. The business’s fifty day moving average is $504.86 and its 200 day moving average is $471.51.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.95 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.50%.

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.