Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $2.47 Billion Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 21.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,193,983 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,381,604 shares during the period. Linde makes up about 0.8% of Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,467,142,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Linde by 19.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,569 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $736,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its position in Linde by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 1,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $883,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group acquired a new position in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at about $131,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $516.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, November 3rd. BMO Capital Markets set a $501.00 price objective on Linde in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Mizuho set a $495.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $499.25.

Linde Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $438.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $204.97 billion, a PE ratio of 29.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.85. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $486.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $420.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $449.42.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 40.19%.

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.