Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Buys 204,636 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,828,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 204,636 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.61% of Linde worth $1,343,564,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Linde during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,098,772,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised 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 valued at $799,543,000 after purchasing an additional 760,954 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 18.5% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,972,515 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,394,198,000 after buying an additional 463,977 shares in the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter worth $187,359,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its stake in Linde by 48.7% in the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,131,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $530,617,000 after buying an additional 370,261 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. The trade was a 29.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. CICC Research initiated coverage on Linde in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. DZ Bank downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $508.20.

Linde Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of LIN opened at $501.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $232.47 billion, a PE ratio of 34.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s fifty day moving average is $457.67 and its 200 day moving average is $449.65. 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 fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $510.65.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.97 EPS. The business’s revenue 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

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.