Linde PLC $LIN Shares Bought by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 956,079 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 118,202 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.20% of Linde worth $454,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Linde by 0.7% in the 2nd 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 period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Linde during the second quarter worth about $3,098,772,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Linde by 4.8% in the second 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 period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $1,744,588,000 after purchasing an additional 24,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Linde by 1.1% during 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 and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. CICC Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Mizuho set a $525.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $483.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $462.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $449.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $224.10 billion, a PE ratio of 33.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $510.65.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 20.30%.The company had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.97 earnings per share. Linde’s 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. Sell-side analysts forecast 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.12%.

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.