Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Has $130.99 Million Stock Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 275,063 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,562 shares during the period. Linde makes up about 1.7% of Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $130,993,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC grew its position in Linde by 1.4% in the second quarter. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $767,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Embree Financial Group increased its position in Linde by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc lifted its stake in Linde by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in Linde by 0.3% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 8,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,071,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. CICC Research began coverage on Linde in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho set a $525.00 price objective on Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $508.20.

Linde Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ LIN opened at $508.27 on Thursday. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $509.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $237.34 billion, a PE ratio of 34.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $451.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $449.02.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 20.30%.The business had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. Linde’s payout ratio is 41.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total value of $4,542,654.75. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at $10,636,202.10. The trade was a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.