Linde PLC $LIN Stock Holdings Boosted by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 16.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 92,890 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,448 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $43,582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its position in Linde by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 5,625 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,639,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in shares of Linde by 796.4% during the second quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 4,231 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,985,000 after buying an additional 3,759 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 485.8% in the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 55,248 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,921,000 after buying an additional 45,817 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $656,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Financial Group LLC increased its position in Linde by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LIN. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. CICC Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Linde from $576.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.00.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $389.38 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $432.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $457.44. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $486.38. The firm has a market cap of $181.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.08, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.85.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. Linde had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 19.38%. Linde’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.94 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.350-16.450 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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 given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Linde’s payout ratio is 40.19%.

About Linde

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.