Capital International Investors Trims Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Capital International Investors lowered its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,334,910 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 193,608 shares during the quarter. Capital International Investors owned about 1.36% of Linde worth $3,009,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 0.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,638,847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,943,654,000 after purchasing an additional 292,492 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,098,772,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 4.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,044,833 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,897,755,000 after acquiring an additional 185,294 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,718,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,744,588,000 after purchasing an additional 24,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 1.1% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,605,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,690,961,000 after purchasing an additional 40,216 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. DZ Bank cut 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. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, 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. Two equities 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.20.

Linde Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $483.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $224.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.15, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $510.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $462.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $449.90.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $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. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders 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 is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at $10,636,202.10. This trade represents a 29.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.