Capital Research Global Investors Raises Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,329,728 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 83,236 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises 0.8% of Capital Research Global Investors’ portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Capital Research Global Investors’ holdings in Linde were worth $4,431,639,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. YANKCOM Partnership boosted its holdings in Linde by 195.2% in the 3rd quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Guerra Advisors Inc purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth $32,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $508.20.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total transaction of $4,542,654.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,636,202.10. This represents a 29.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $483.62 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $462.96 and a 200-day moving average of $449.90. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $510.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 20.30%.The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.97 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly 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. Equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 41.12%.

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.