Swiss National Bank Sells 74,700 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Swiss National Bank reduced its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,356,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 74,700 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Linde were worth $644,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth about $4,243,000. National Pension Service grew its stake in Linde by 2.6% in the third 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. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position 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 last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its position in shares of Linde by 27.2% during the 2nd quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 417,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $195,649,000 after purchasing an additional 89,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR raised its stake in shares of Linde by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 44,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,366,000 after purchasing an additional 5,526 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DZ Bank cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $455.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.20.

Insider Activity at Linde

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

Linde Trading Down 1.1%

LIN stock opened at $484.74 on Monday. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $510.65. The stock has a market cap of $224.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $461.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $449.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $8.76 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.97 earnings per share. 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 anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This is a boost 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%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.