Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 189,953 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Franklin Resources Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,705,073 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 189,953 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.79% of Linde worth $1,579,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,569 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $736,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 19.3% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 5,625 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,639,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Erste Group Bank upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. DZ Bank downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $541.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total transaction of $2,094,802.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at $10,643,729.02. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total value of $3,111,800.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $507.90 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $503.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $468.37. 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 PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $521.28. The company has a market cap of $234.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company 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. Analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. 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.