Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Increases Stock Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 29,770 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,602 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in Linde were worth $14,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,638,847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,943,654,000 after buying an additional 292,492 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,098,772,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Linde by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,044,833 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,897,755,000 after acquiring an additional 185,294 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,718,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,744,588,000 after acquiring an additional 24,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,605,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,690,961,000 after acquiring an additional 40,216 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $438.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $204.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $420.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $449.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $486.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released 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 firm had revenue of $8.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.94 EPS. The company’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. Equities analysts predict 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 was paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Linde from $475.00 to $455.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Mizuho set a $495.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, December 29th. BMO Capital Markets set a $501.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $499.25.

About Linde

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.