Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 9,680 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 707,961 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,680 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Linde were worth $336,321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 4.5% in the second quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Embree Financial Group lifted its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc boosted its stake in Linde by 10.2% during 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 period. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its holdings in Linde by 0.3% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management grew its holdings in Linde by 24.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 122 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total value of $4,542,654.75. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at $10,636,202.10. This represents a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $484.74 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $224.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $461.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $449.88. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $510.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.88.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LIN. CICC Research initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price target for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.20.

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.