Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 61,935 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 879,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 61,935 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for 0.6% of Natixis Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $417,608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,638,847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,943,654,000 after purchasing an additional 292,492 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth approximately $3,098,772,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,044,833 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,897,755,000 after purchasing an additional 185,294 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.7% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,718,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,744,588,000 after purchasing an additional 24,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 1.1% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,605,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,690,961,000 after purchasing an additional 40,216 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.20.

Linde Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of LIN stock opened at $484.74 on Friday. 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 PLC has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $510.65. The stock has a market cap of $224.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $461.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $450.11.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.97 EPS. The company’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, research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.12%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total transaction of $4,542,654.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. The trade was a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.