Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Increases Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 985,418 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,944 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.21% of Linde worth $468,074,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at $4,243,000. National Pension Service grew its position in Linde by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 967,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,570,000 after purchasing an additional 24,624 shares during the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 186,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $87,549,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 12.3% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 205,318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $97,526,000 after buying an additional 22,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 27.2% in the second quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 417,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $195,649,000 after buying an additional 89,129 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $508.27 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $237.34 billion, a PE ratio of 34.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a fifty day moving average of $451.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $449.02. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $509.62. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 20.30%.The business’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $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, research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share 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 paid a $1.60 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 41.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. CICC Research initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company 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 given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $508.20.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. The trade was a 29.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.