Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Grows Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,919 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Linde were worth $58,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Saranac Partners Ltd purchased a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Triumph Capital Management lifted its position in Linde by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 66 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Caitlin John LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth about $32,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, 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 note on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $543.27.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $519.89 on Friday. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $527.94. The company’s 50-day moving average is $507.96 and its 200 day moving average is $479.18. The company has a market capitalization of $240.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.72. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.60 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.95 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.50%.

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.