Linde PLC $LIN Shares Sold by Aberdeen Group plc

Aberdeen Group plc lessened its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 471,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 25,372 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.10% of Linde worth $201,207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 10,454.4% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,424,869 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,033,940,000 after buying an additional 2,401,894 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $453,274,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 82.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,683,248 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $799,543,000 after acquiring an additional 760,954 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at about $260,822,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,124,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $910,129,000 after purchasing an additional 544,850 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Mizuho set a $525.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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 research report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $515.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total value of $2,094,802.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 20,332 shares of company stock worth $9,749,257 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 1.8%

NASDAQ LIN opened at $502.60 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $232.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.45, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $482.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $451.94. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $510.65.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. The business 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.97 earnings per share. 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

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.