Main Street Research LLC Sells 72,768 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Main Street Research LLC lowered its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 99.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 72,768 shares during the period. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 27,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,658,000 after purchasing an additional 2,234 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,243,000. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 45.5% in the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 236,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $112,198,000 after purchasing an additional 73,850 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 143.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 15,044 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,415,000 after purchasing an additional 8,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 967,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,570,000 after purchasing an additional 24,624 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Linde from $550.00 to $579.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Mizuho set a $525.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Linde from $552.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Linde from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $540.00.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total transaction of $2,094,802.03. Following the sale, the vice president 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. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $517.58 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $239.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $499.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $462.47. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $521.28.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

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.