Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Reduces Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 99.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,770 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,668,478 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Linde were worth $6,298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew 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 valued at $736,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 19.3% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 619 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at $10,636,202.10. This 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 at this link. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Trading Down 0.9%

LIN stock opened at $491.12 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $477.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $451.23. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $510.65. The firm has a market cap of $227.58 billion, a PE ratio of 33.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.88.

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 net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The company had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.97 earnings per share. Linde’s 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th were issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on LIN. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup raised their price objective 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. Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.20.

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.