Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 3,306 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Alliancebernstein L.P. trimmed its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 931,855 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,306 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.20% of Linde worth $442,631,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. YANKCOM Partnership raised its position in shares of Linde by 195.2% during the third quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Guerra Advisors Inc bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LIN. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. DZ Bank cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $455.00 to $525.00 in a report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, CICC Research assumed coverage on Linde in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.20.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,643,729.02. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total value of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock worth $9,749,257 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of LIN opened at $493.92 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.88 billion, a PE ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s fifty day moving average is $467.63 and its 200 day moving average is $450.04. 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 fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $510.65.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released 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 analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.97 earnings per share. Linde’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. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a $1.60 dividend. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.