First National Trust Co Trims Position in Linde PLC $LIN

First National Trust Co lowered its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 33,452 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,514 shares during the quarter. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Linde were worth $15,890,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 0.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,638,847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,943,654,000 after purchasing an additional 292,492 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,098,772,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Linde by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,044,833 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,897,755,000 after buying an additional 185,294 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,718,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,744,588,000 after acquiring an additional 24,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,605,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,690,961,000 after acquiring an additional 40,216 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. CICC Research started coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, December 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $516.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $513.56.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $456.34 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $213.09 billion, a PE ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $432.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $447.40. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $486.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

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.