IFM Investors Pty Ltd Buys New Shares in Linde PLC $LIN

IFM Investors Pty Ltd bought a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 93,538 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,884,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,953,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,167,559,000 after buying an additional 354,800 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Linde by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,319,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,176,828,000 after buying an additional 172,162 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,353,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,820,533,000 after buying an additional 35,945 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Linde by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,127,594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,318,325,000 after buying an additional 797,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $3,246,750,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Up 1.2%

Linde stock opened at $515.44 on Friday. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $522.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $238.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.23, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $504.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $471.14.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 42.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Seaport Research Partners lifted their price target on Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $541.91.

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.