Aspire Private Capital LLC Raises Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Aspire Private Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 102.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,219 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,626 shares during the period. Aspire Private Capital LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $4,243,000. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its stake in shares of Linde by 45.5% during the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 236,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $112,198,000 after buying an additional 73,850 shares during the period. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 27,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,658,000 after acquiring an additional 2,234 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its stake in Linde by 2.6% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 967,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $459,570,000 after acquiring an additional 24,624 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 205,318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $97,526,000 after acquiring an additional 22,489 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $493.83 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $481.20 and a 200 day moving average of $451.58. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $510.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.78.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. 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 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue 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 business 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 43.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total value of $2,094,802.03. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $455.00 to $525.00 in a report on Friday, March 13th. CICC Research began coverage on Linde in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price target for the company. Finally, 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 research note on Friday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average 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.