First Financial Corp IN Buys 1,881 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

First Financial Corp IN purchased a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,881 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $893,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 74.2% during the second quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 54 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID grew its position in Linde by 96.6% during the first quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 57 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 1,450.0% during the first quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Polaris Financial Partners bought a new position in Linde during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Thursday, October 8th. DZ Bank reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Barclays assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Monday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $577.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Linde from $532.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $547.29.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded up $4.76 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $492.11. The company had a trading volume of 1,394,113 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,327,269. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $548.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.79, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $478.10 and its 200 day moving average is $498.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.49 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.02 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 20.09% and a net margin of 20.43%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.09 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.700-17.900 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 4.450-4.550 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd were paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 41.34%.

Linde Profile

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) is a global industrial gases and engineering company that supplies gases, related equipment and process technologies to customers in healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, energy, food and beverage, electronics, and other industries. Its products include oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide and specialty gases.

The company provides gases through on-site production facilities, pipelines, bulk deliveries and packaged cylinders. It also designs and builds industrial gas plants and offers technologies and services for applications such as hydrogen production, carbon capture, clean energy, semiconductor manufacturing, metal fabrication and medical care.

Linde traces its history to 1879, when German engineer Carl von Linde developed refrigeration and gas-related technologies.