4,609 Shares in Linde PLC $LIN Purchased by Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO

Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO bought a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,609 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,965,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. YANKCOM Partnership increased its position in Linde by 195.2% in the third quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at $30,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Mizuho set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $515.20.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. This represents a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock worth $9,749,257. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $502.60 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $510.65. The stock has a market cap of $232.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.45, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $483.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $451.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $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. On average, analysts expect 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. 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.