Linde PLC $LIN Shares Purchased by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,370,361 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 85,360 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Linde were worth $679,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the first quarter worth about $253,000. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 25.4% in the 1st quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 38,337 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $19,140,000 after purchasing an additional 7,758 shares in the last quarter. Spartan Wealth Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $6,562,000. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $662,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, ANB Bank grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. ANB Bank now owns 4,020 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,993,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Seaport Research Partners increased their price objective 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of 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, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $548.67.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $513.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $387.78 and a 1-year high of $548.20. The company has a market capitalization of $237.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.08, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50-day moving average of $515.95 and a 200-day moving average of $491.09.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business 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. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. 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.