Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Buys 38,630 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 110.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 73,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 38,630 shares during the period. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Linde were worth $31,340,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp purchased a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Saranac Partners Ltd bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 134.5% during the fourth quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 68 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Linde from $552.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $540.00.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $501.98 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $501.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $465.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $521.28. The firm has a market cap of $232.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.33, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.73.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The business’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.95 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Linde 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.