First Merchants Corp Buys 1,233 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

First Merchants Corp grew its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,561 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $10,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth $25,000. Triumph Capital Management raised its holdings in Linde by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 66 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp purchased a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Saranac Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Strengthening Families & Communities LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 134.5% in the 4th quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 68 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Linde from $552.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $541.91.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $512.15 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.01, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $506.46 and a 200 day moving average of $475.75. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $525.87. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.60 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $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. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 42.50%.

Linde Profile

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.