R Squared Ltd Sells 9,703 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

R Squared Ltd lowered its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 93.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 655 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,703 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd’s holdings in Linde were worth $325,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $19,167,559,000 after purchasing an additional 354,800 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 valued at $9,176,828,000 after purchasing an additional 172,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Linde by 8.6% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Linde by 7.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Linde from $552.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $543.27.

Linde Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ LIN opened at $538.23 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $512.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $485.94. The company has a market capitalization of $248.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $548.20.

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. 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 analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.95 EPS. The firm’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, equities research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend 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.