Handelsbanken Fonder AB Purchases 13,153 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 214,961 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 13,153 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Linde were worth $102,106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 19.8% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,569 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $736,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its position in Linde by 19.3% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 18.8% during the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 204,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $96,163,000 after buying an additional 32,416 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. This represents a 29.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Mizuho set a $525.00 price target on Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, CICC Research initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $508.20.

Linde Trading Down 1.9%

LIN opened at $498.51 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $452.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $449.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $232.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.17, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $510.65.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 20.30%.The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.97 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. Analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. 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. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 43.87%.

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.