QRG Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

QRG Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 62,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 12,073 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $29,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Linde by 1.3% during the second quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 249,742 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $117,174,000 after buying an additional 3,230 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 186,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $87,549,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $465,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 12.3% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 205,318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $97,526,000 after purchasing an additional 22,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its stake in Linde by 27.2% during the second quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 417,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $195,649,000 after purchasing an additional 89,129 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LIN. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $516.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. CICC Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Linde from $475.00 to $455.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $499.25.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $438.96 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $420.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $449.61. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $486.38. The stock has a market cap of $204.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.19%.

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.