Linde PLC $LIN is Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.’s 3rd Largest Position

Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. reduced its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 870,459 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 10,750 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for approximately 7.3% of Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.’s holdings in Linde were worth $413,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. YANKCOM Partnership increased its stake in Linde by 195.2% in the 3rd quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Guerra Advisors Inc purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT lifted its position in shares of Linde by 87.8% in the third quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 77 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $516.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.20.

Linde Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ LIN opened at $485.28 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $442.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $447.99. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $488.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $226.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.84.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.97 earnings per share. Linde’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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the business’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 transaction of $4,542,654.75. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,636,202.10. The trade was a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.