APG Asset Management N.V. Reduces Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

APG Asset Management N.V. cut its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 401,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,034 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. owned 0.09% of Linde worth $190,625,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,243,000. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Linde by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 967,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,570,000 after purchasing an additional 24,624 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 205,318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $97,526,000 after purchasing an additional 22,489 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its position in shares of Linde by 27.2% during the 2nd quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 417,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $195,649,000 after purchasing an additional 89,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 14.0% in the third quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 44,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,366,000 after purchasing an additional 5,526 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $508.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $235.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.82, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.84. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $510.65. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $454.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $449.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.97 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Mizuho set a $525.00 price target on Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. CICC Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $508.20.

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.