Swedbank AB Buys 19,782 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Swedbank AB raised its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,144,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,782 shares during the period. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Linde were worth $488,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Saranac Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho set a $525.00 price target on Linde in a report 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 report on Tuesday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday. Erste Group Bank upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Linde from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $540.00.

Linde Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $500.41 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $231.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.23, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.83. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $521.28. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $497.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $456.41.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.95 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.50%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the company’s 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 directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,636,202.10. This represents a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total value of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.