Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 553,125 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,575,587 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 553,125 shares during the period. Linde accounts for approximately 1.0% of Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,085,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. eCIO Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Nova Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth $52,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 5,800.0% in the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Linde from $475.00 to $455.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $516.00 price target on shares of Linde in a 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. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.83.

Linde Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $423.39 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.11, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.91. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $486.38. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $454.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $462.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company had revenue of $8.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.94 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.350-16.450 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 40.19%.

Linde 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.