Linde PLC $LIN Shares Bought by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 643,470 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 106,059 shares during the period. Linde makes up about 0.8% of William Blair Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $274,369,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its position in Linde by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 47,168 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,122,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133 shares during the period. Pathfinder Wealth Consulting Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $237,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 5,163.5% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 84,426 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,995,000 after buying an additional 82,822 shares in the last quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 26.2% in the 4th quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC now owns 559 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $319,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Seaport Research Partners boosted their price objective on Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Linde from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $540.00.

Linde Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $517.58 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $499.78 and its 200-day moving average is $462.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.30 billion, a PE ratio of 34.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $387.78 and a 12-month high of $521.28.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.95 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total value of $2,094,802.03. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at $10,643,729.02. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.