Linde PLC $LIN Shares Acquired by Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 111,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,071 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Linde were worth $47,513,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at about $4,243,000. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 45.5% in the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 236,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $112,198,000 after purchasing an additional 73,850 shares during the period. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 27,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,658,000 after purchasing an additional 2,234 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 967,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,570,000 after purchasing an additional 24,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 205,318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $97,526,000 after purchasing an additional 22,489 shares during the period. 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 Linde stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,636,202.10. The trade was a 29.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $495.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $229.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.88. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $510.65. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $476.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $451.27.

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. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 20.30%.Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.97 EPS. 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, equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. This is an increase 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%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.87%.

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.