Carderock Capital Management Inc. Grows Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Carderock Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,971 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,483 shares during the period. Carderock Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,252,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 4.5% in the second quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Embree Financial Group lifted its position in shares of Linde by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 8,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,071,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA grew its position in shares of Linde by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 711 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, 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 transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total transaction of $4,542,654.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,636,202.10. This trade represents a 29.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on LIN. DZ Bank lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Mizuho set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, CICC Research began coverage on Linde in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $515.20.

Linde Stock Down 2.1%

Linde stock opened at $478.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $473.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $450.60. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $510.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.77, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.97 earnings per share. The company’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. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.87%.

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.