Magnetar Financial LLC Invests $7.85 Million in Linde PLC $LIN

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 16,518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,846,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Linde during the second quarter worth $3,098,772,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Linde by 82.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,683,248 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $799,543,000 after purchasing an additional 760,954 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its stake in Linde by 18.5% during the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,972,515 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,394,198,000 after purchasing an additional 463,977 shares during the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new stake in Linde during the second quarter valued at $187,359,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 48.7% during the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,131,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $530,617,000 after purchasing an additional 370,261 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock opened at $477.94 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $221.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $510.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $463.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $449.88.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 EPS 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 business had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.97 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid 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 a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. CICC Research initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $508.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. This represents a 29.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.