Stephens Inc. AR Has $4.96 Million Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Stephens Inc. AR cut its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,438 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,210 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,958,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,098,772,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Linde by 82.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,683,248 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $799,543,000 after purchasing an additional 760,954 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in Linde by 18.5% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,972,515 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,394,198,000 after purchasing an additional 463,977 shares in the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new stake in Linde during the second quarter worth about $187,359,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in Linde by 48.7% during the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,131,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $530,617,000 after buying an additional 370,261 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. CICC Research started coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 target price for the company. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, December 12th. Mizuho set a $495.00 price target on Linde in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $499.25.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $440.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market cap of $205.48 billion, a PE ratio of 29.47, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.85. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $387.78 and a 12-month high of $486.38. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $419.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $449.82.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 21.17%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.94 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.350-16.450 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.19%.

More Linde News

Here are the key news stories impacting Linde this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Karen Firestone (Aureus Asset Management) publicly said she is buying Linde, highlighting the stock as “beaten up” and attractive on a fundamentals/valuation basis — this kind of visible buy from a known manager can draw other investors and support the rally. Trade Tracker: Karen Firestone buys Linde PLC
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple outlets report that David Linde (the film executive) was named CEO of the Sundance Institute. This is unrelated to Linde PLC’s industrial?gas business but may create headline confusion because of the shared surname; the announcement itself has no operational impact on LIN. David Linde named Sundance Institute CEO
• Negative Sentiment: An investor?letter summary published on InsiderMonkey outlines what “dragged” Linde in Q4 — signaling headwinds such as softer volumes/mix and margin pressure that weighed on near?term results. That analysis can keep some investors cautious about near?term growth and multiples. Here’s What Dragged Linde plc (LIN) in Q4

Linde Company Profile

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.