Prospera Financial Services Inc Boosts Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 178.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,482 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Linde were worth $20,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LIN. eCIO Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth approximately $45,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its position in Linde by 445.0% during the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 109 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth $52,000. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in Linde by 5,800.0% during the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LIN. Citigroup cut their target price on Linde from $535.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Linde from $576.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $475.00 to $455.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $508.83.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $420.51 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.91, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $486.38. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $459.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $463.26.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The business had revenue of $8.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.350-16.450 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 40.19%.

Linde Profile

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.