Linde PLC $LIN Stake Cut by Park Avenue Securities LLC

Park Avenue Securities LLC trimmed its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 23,256 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,281 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $9,916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew its stake in shares of Linde by 45.5% in the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 236,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $112,198,000 after buying an additional 73,850 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,243,000. National Pension Service lifted its stake in Linde by 2.6% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 967,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,570,000 after acquiring an additional 24,624 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its position in Linde by 27.2% in the second quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 417,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $195,649,000 after acquiring an additional 89,129 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ LIN opened at $488.15 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $510.65. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $473.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $450.87. 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 capitalization of $226.20 billion, a PE ratio of 33.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.82.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the previous year, the company 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. Research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This is an increase 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 43.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated 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 shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $455.00 to $525.00 in a report on Friday, March 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $515.20.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total value of $2,094,802.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Company 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.