CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. Makes New $206.75 Million Investment in Linde PLC $LIN

CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 435,256 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,747,000. Linde accounts for about 0.7% of CIBC Bancorp USA Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Linde at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. YANKCOM Partnership grew 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 acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Guerra Advisors Inc purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. The trade was a 29.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 20,332 shares of company stock worth $9,749,257 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LIN. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $455.00 to $525.00 in a report on Friday, March 13th. CICC Research initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho set a $525.00 price target on Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $515.20.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $494.05 on Wednesday. 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 50 day moving average price of $470.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $450.26. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $510.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.94 billion, a PE ratio of 33.86, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.82.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. The company 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%. Linde’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $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. Equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. 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 a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.87%.

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.