Chesapeake Capital Corp IL Makes New Investment in Linde PLC $LIN

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL acquired a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,941 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $922,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Embree Financial Group grew its stake in Linde by 4.9% in the third quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Binnacle Investments Inc raised its holdings in Linde by 10.2% in the second quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its holdings in Linde by 0.3% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 8,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,071,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management lifted its position in Linde by 24.5% during the third quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 122 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $4,542,654.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,636,202.10. This trade represents a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was 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 approximately $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.7%

Linde stock opened at $493.92 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $510.65. The company has a market capitalization of $228.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $467.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $450.49. 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, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 20.30%.The company’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.97 earnings per share. 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 predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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