Congress Asset Management Co. Decreases Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Congress Asset Management Co. lowered its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,070 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Linde were worth $15,849,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,569 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $736,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 19.3% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 106,728 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $50,075,000 after buying an additional 18,933 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the 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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. This trade represents a 29.93% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $479.84 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $474.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $450.67. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $510.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.97 EPS. 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, equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LIN. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.20.

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.