Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Sells 34,654 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 17.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 160,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 34,654 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $79,723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Linde by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,610,387 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,245,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275,477 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG raised its position in shares of Linde by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 83,262 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,493,000 after purchasing an additional 2,408 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 143.4% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 15,044 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,415,000 after buying an additional 8,863 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 177.2% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,263,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $538,558,000 after buying an additional 807,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trium Capital LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 85.3% during the 4th quarter. Trium Capital LLP now owns 5,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,188,000 after buying an additional 2,362 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $548.67.

Linde Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $512.28 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $516.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $493.94. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $548.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $236.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.72.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released 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 company had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm 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, research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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 $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 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.