Linde PLC $LIN Shares Bought by Carderock Capital Management Inc.

Carderock Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 17.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,971 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,483 shares during the quarter. Carderock Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,252,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Linde during the second quarter worth $3,098,772,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 10,454.4% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,424,869 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,033,940,000 after acquiring an additional 2,401,894 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at $453,274,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 82.5% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $260,822,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $515.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction 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 trade represents a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 2.1%

LIN stock opened at $478.05 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $473.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $450.60. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $510.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.52 billion, a PE ratio of 32.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.82.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The business 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 $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 43.87%.

Linde Company 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.