Dnca Finance Sells 17,213 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Dnca Finance reduced its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 36.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 17,213 shares during the quarter. Dnca Finance’s holdings in Linde were worth $14,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter worth $3,098,772,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Linde by 82.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,683,248 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $799,543,000 after acquiring an additional 760,954 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in Linde by 18.5% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,972,515 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,394,198,000 after acquiring an additional 463,977 shares in the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new position in Linde in the second quarter valued at $187,359,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its stake in Linde by 48.7% in the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,131,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $530,617,000 after acquiring an additional 370,261 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday. CICC Research began coverage on Linde in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, DZ Bank lowered 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $515.20.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $493.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $228.88 billion, a PE ratio of 33.85, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s fifty day moving average is $467.63 and its 200 day moving average is $450.49. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $510.65.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 20.30%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last 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. Research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 43.87%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total value of $3,111,800.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total value 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. The trade was a 29.93% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock worth $9,749,257. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.