Amundi Raises Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Amundi increased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,019,725 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 173,674 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned about 0.64% of Linde worth $1,440,922,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $45,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its stake in shares of Linde by 445.0% during the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 109 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Nova Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter worth about $52,000. Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in Linde by 5,800.0% in the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 280.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Linde from $576.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. CICC Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.00.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $403.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $188.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $435.52 and its 200 day moving average is $458.35. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $401.93 and a 52 week high of $486.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted 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. Linde had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 19.38%. The business had revenue of $8.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.350-16.450 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS. Research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 40.19%.

Linde Company Profile

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.