Capital World Investors Sells 9,031,735 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Capital World Investors cut its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 85.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,520,692 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,031,735 shares during the period. Capital World Investors’ holdings in Linde were worth $648,471,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Blalock Williams LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Blalock Williams LLC now owns 510 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $217,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 1,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Binnacle Investments Inc increased its stake in shares of Linde by 10.2% in the second quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA increased its stake in shares of Linde by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 711 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Mayport LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Mayport LLC now owns 504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the company’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 value of $2,094,802.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,643,729.02. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the company’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 value of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on LIN. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Seaport Research Partners lifted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, DZ Bank cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. One equities 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 MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $541.91.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock opened at $507.90 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $503.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $468.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $234.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $521.28.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm 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. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio 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.