Nordea Investment Management AB Acquires 544,850 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 34.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,124,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 544,850 shares during the period. Linde makes up 0.8% of Nordea Investment Management AB’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Nordea Investment Management AB owned approximately 0.46% of Linde worth $910,129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Value Partners Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 47.9% during the 4th quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 2,580 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after buying an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,260,000. Northside Capital Management LLC grew its position in Linde by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC now owns 3,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,495,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 1,128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $481,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Linde by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,145,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. The trade was a 29.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 20,332 shares of company stock worth $9,749,257 in the last ninety days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. CICC Research began coverage on Linde in a research 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 lifted their target price for the stock from $455.00 to $525.00 in a report on Friday, March 13th. Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $515.20.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock opened at $488.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.82. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $387.78 and a 1-year high of $510.65. The company’s 50-day moving average is $473.03 and its 200 day moving average is $450.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results 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 business 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 quarter in the previous year, the business 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 forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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