Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Lowers Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. trimmed its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 14.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 752,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 130,338 shares during the period. Linde comprises 2.2% of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned approximately 0.16% of Linde worth $357,203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,098,772,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Linde by 82.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,683,248 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $799,543,000 after acquiring an additional 760,954 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in Linde by 18.5% during the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,972,515 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,394,198,000 after acquiring an additional 463,977 shares during the period. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new position in Linde in the second quarter worth $187,359,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its position in Linde by 48.7% in the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,131,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $530,617,000 after purchasing an additional 370,261 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of Linde 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total transaction of $2,094,802.03. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,643,729.02. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257 over the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. 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 report on Tuesday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $515.20.

Linde Trading Up 0.7%

LIN stock opened at $493.92 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $228.88 billion, a PE ratio of 33.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 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 PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $510.65. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $467.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $450.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $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, analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.87%.

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.