Linde PLC $LIN Shares Bought by Country Trust Bank

Country Trust Bank raised its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 51.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,557 shares during the quarter. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in Linde were worth $30,697,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC increased its stake in Linde by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 27,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,658,000 after purchasing an additional 2,234 shares during the period. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its stake in Linde by 45.5% during the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 236,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $112,198,000 after purchasing an additional 73,850 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth about $4,243,000. National Pension Service increased its stake in Linde by 2.6% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 967,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $459,570,000 after purchasing an additional 24,624 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Linde by 12.3% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 205,318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $97,526,000 after purchasing an additional 22,489 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho set a $525.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $515.20.

Linde Stock Down 0.6%

LIN stock opened at $499.47 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $484.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $451.95. 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.23, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.78.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.97 earnings per share. The business’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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. This is a positive change 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 currently 43.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the 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 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock worth $9,749,257 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.