Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Sells 194,659 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. reduced its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 76.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 58,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 194,659 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $27,951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Linde during the second quarter worth about $3,098,772,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Linde by 82.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,683,248 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $799,543,000 after purchasing an additional 760,954 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in shares of Linde by 18.5% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,972,515 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,394,198,000 after purchasing an additional 463,977 shares during the period. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $187,359,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 48.7% in the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,131,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $530,617,000 after buying an additional 370,261 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total value 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. The trade was a 29.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $483.62 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $462.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $449.90. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $510.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $224.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LIN. Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. 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 report on Friday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.20.

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.