Perpetual Ltd Sells 162,059 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Perpetual Ltd trimmed its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 96.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 162,059 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,319,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,176,828,000 after buying an additional 172,162 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,329,728 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,431,639,000 after acquiring an additional 83,236 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Linde by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,287,566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,036,594,000 after acquiring an additional 242,733 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,895,026 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,850,137,000 after acquiring an additional 176,650 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 1.1% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,605,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,690,961,000 after acquiring an additional 40,216 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $502.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $232.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.45, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $483.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $451.98. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $510.65.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $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 research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were paid a $1.60 dividend. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LIN. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $455.00 to $525.00 in a report on Friday, March 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the company’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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at $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 ninety days, insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock worth $9,749,257. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde 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.