Linde PLC $LIN Shares Purchased by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5,163.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 84,426 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 82,822 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $35,995,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 27,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,658,000 after buying an additional 2,234 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth $4,243,000. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its stake in Linde by 45.5% during the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 236,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $112,198,000 after buying an additional 73,850 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in Linde by 143.4% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 15,044 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,415,000 after buying an additional 8,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its stake in Linde by 2.6% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 967,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $459,570,000 after buying an additional 24,624 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total value of $2,094,802.03. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,643,729.02. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total value of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Linde from $550.00 to $579.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Mizuho set a $525.00 price objective on Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $540.00.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $517.58 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $521.28. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $499.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $462.12. The firm has a market cap of $239.30 billion, a PE ratio of 34.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 42.50%.

Linde 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.