Linde PLC $LIN Stock Holdings Lowered by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 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 owned approximately 0.05% of Linde worth $113,453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC grew its position in Linde by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $767,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 4.5% in the second quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Embree Financial Group raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.9% during the third quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 10.2% during the second quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 8,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,071,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, CICC Research started coverage on Linde in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price target on the stock. Two investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.20.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total value of $4,542,654.75. Following the sale, the vice president 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $484.74 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $461.82 and a 200-day moving average of $450.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market cap of $224.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.82. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $510.65.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

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.