McLaughlin Asset Management Inc. Takes $843,000 Position in Linde PLC $LIN

McLaughlin Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $843,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 2,137.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 129,847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,366,000 after acquiring an additional 124,043 shares during the last quarter. Claris Financial LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $339,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Linde by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,402,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,303,494,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,751 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,707 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,976,000 after purchasing an additional 2,605 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 129.9% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,445,708 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $616,435,000 after purchasing an additional 816,744 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Seaport Research Partners boosted their price objective on Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $541.91.

Linde Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $512.15 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $236.79 billion, a PE ratio of 34.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.72. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $525.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $506.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $475.01. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 19.80%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.95 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

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.