Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Reduces Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd cut its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 98.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 163 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 10,214 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd’s holdings in Linde were worth $77,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Linde by 0.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,638,847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,943,654,000 after acquiring an additional 292,492 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,098,772,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Linde by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,044,833 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,897,755,000 after purchasing an additional 185,294 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Linde by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,718,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,744,588,000 after purchasing an additional 24,046 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Linde by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,605,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,690,961,000 after purchasing an additional 40,216 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $508.08 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $454.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $449.27. The firm has a market cap of $235.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.82. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $510.65.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.97 EPS. The firm’s quarterly 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. On average, equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 41.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on LIN. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at $10,636,202.10. This represents a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.