Securian Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Securian Asset Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,965 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $10,757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. ANB Bank boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. ANB Bank now owns 3,979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,890,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 12.3% in 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. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 4.2% in the third quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 1,602 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $761,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 2.0% during the third quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 3,349 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,591,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Gries Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on Linde from $535.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. BMO Capital Markets set a $501.00 target price on Linde in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $516.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.00.

Linde Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $437.16 on Wednesday. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $486.38. The firm has a market cap of $204.13 billion, a PE ratio of 29.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $416.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $450.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Linde had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 21.17%.The firm 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 company posted $3.94 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly 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 expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Linde Company 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.