Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $686.99 Million Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,385,731 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 94,303 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.30% of Linde worth $686,990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,953,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $19,167,559,000 after purchasing an additional 354,800 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,319,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,176,828,000 after purchasing an additional 172,162 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,353,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,820,533,000 after purchasing an additional 35,945 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Linde by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,127,594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,318,325,000 after buying an additional 797,866 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Linde by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,784,371 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,171,959,000 after buying an additional 695,771 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Seaport Research Partners lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. One equities research 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $543.27.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $527.67 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $243.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $513.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $486.71. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.95 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.50%.

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.