First Financial Bank Trust Division Purchases New Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

First Financial Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 8,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,034,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID raised its stake in shares of Linde by 96.6% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 57 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 74.2% during the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 54 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 1,450.0% during the 1st quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 257.1% in the 1st quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 75 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Down 1.1%

Linde stock traded down $5.20 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $469.45. 2,120,577 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,335,868. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $548.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $216.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $481.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $498.52.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.49 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.02 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.43% and a return on equity of 20.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 3rd were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Linde from $576.00 to $553.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $579.00 target price (up from $550.00) on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on Linde from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Linde from $580.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Argus reduced their price target on Linde from $563.00 to $538.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $547.05.

About Linde

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.