Advisors Asset Management Inc. Cuts Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Advisors Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 42.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,633 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 7,241 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,638,847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,943,654,000 after acquiring an additional 292,492 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Linde in the second quarter valued at about $3,098,772,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Linde by 4.8% in 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 period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $1,744,588,000 after purchasing an additional 24,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.1% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,605,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,690,961,000 after purchasing an additional 40,216 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several analyst reports. 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. CICC Research initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $508.20.

Linde Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $481.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $437.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $447.72. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $488.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.97, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 20.30%.The company had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.97 EPS. The business’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. On average, analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde 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.