Vinva Investment Management Ltd Boosts Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Vinva Investment Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 38.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 30,267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,481 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Linde were worth $14,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,638,847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,943,654,000 after purchasing an additional 292,492 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Linde during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,098,772,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Linde by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,044,833 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,897,755,000 after buying an additional 185,294 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,718,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,744,588,000 after buying an additional 24,046 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 1.1% in 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. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, CICC Research assumed coverage on Linde in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.20.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. This represents a 29.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $484.74 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $510.65. The company’s 50 day moving average is $461.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $450.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $224.62 billion, a PE ratio of 33.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. The business 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 last 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. Equities analysts predict 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 will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. 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 yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. Linde’s payout ratio is 41.12%.

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.