Barclays PLC Buys 9,498 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,315,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,498 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.50% of Linde worth $1,099,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. YANKCOM Partnership raised its stake in shares of Linde by 195.2% in the 3rd quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Guerra Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total transaction of $4,542,654.75. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,636,202.10. This trade represents a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of LIN opened at $490.06 on Friday. 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 market cap of $227.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.59, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $460.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $450.27. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $510.65.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given 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 positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 41.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. DZ Bank lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $508.20.

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.