Linde PLC $LIN Stake Reduced by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 238,849 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,122 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Linde were worth $113,453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. YANKCOM Partnership boosted its holdings in Linde by 195.2% during the third quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Guerra Advisors Inc acquired a new position in Linde in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related 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 transaction of $4,542,654.75. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. 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. Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, CICC Research assumed coverage on Linde in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $508.20.

Linde Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $484.74 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $461.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $450.32. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week 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. The company has a market cap of $224.62 billion, a PE ratio of 33.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.82.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.97 EPS. The company’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. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

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.