Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Trims Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC trimmed its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,234 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,767 shares during the period. Linde accounts for approximately 1.2% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Linde were worth $21,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake 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 worth $1,033,940,000 after buying an additional 2,401,894 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $453,274,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Linde by 82.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,683,248 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $799,543,000 after buying an additional 760,954 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $260,822,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Linde by 34.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,124,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $910,129,000 after buying an additional 544,850 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were 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 owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,636,202.10. This trade represents a 29.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. 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. upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $515.20.

Linde Stock Up 1.2%

LIN opened at $500.48 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $486.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $452.40. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $510.65. The company has a market capitalization of $231.92 billion, a PE ratio of 34.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

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 the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.97 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. Analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

About Linde

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.