Capital International Inc. CA Boosts Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Capital International Inc. CA raised its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 15.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 179,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,819 shares during the period. Capital International Inc. CA’s holdings in Linde were worth $85,285,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,243,000. National Pension Service grew its holdings in Linde by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 967,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $459,570,000 after acquiring an additional 24,624 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 12.3% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 205,318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $97,526,000 after acquiring an additional 22,489 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its stake in shares of Linde by 27.2% during the second quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 417,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $195,649,000 after acquiring 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 third quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 44,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,366,000 after acquiring an additional 5,526 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $483.62 on Tuesday. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $510.65. The firm has a market cap of $224.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.15, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50-day moving average of $462.96 and a 200 day moving average of $449.90. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The business’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company 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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $508.20.

Insider Activity 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 shares were sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total transaction of $4,542,654.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,636,202.10. This represents a 29.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.