Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases 2,411 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 165.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 2,411 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,650,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its position in Linde by 45.5% during the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 236,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $112,198,000 after purchasing an additional 73,850 shares during the period. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 27,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,658,000 after purchasing an additional 2,234 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,243,000. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 24,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 205,318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $97,526,000 after buying an additional 22,489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LIN. 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 research note on Tuesday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Citigroup raised their price target on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $515.20.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $502.60 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $387.78 and a 1-year high of $510.65. The company has a market capitalization of $232.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $483.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $451.98.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.97 EPS. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. Sell-side 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 was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th were given 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 was Wednesday, March 11th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total value of $4,542,654.75. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,636,202.10. This represents a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total value of $3,111,800.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257 over the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.