Linde PLC $LIN Shares Purchased by Rathbones Group PLC

Rathbones Group PLC lifted its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 608,141 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,578 shares during the period. Linde accounts for approximately 0.8% of Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Rathbones Group PLC owned approximately 0.13% of Linde worth $259,305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 10,454.4% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,424,869 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,033,940,000 after purchasing an additional 2,401,894 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at $453,274,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Linde by 82.5% during 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 buying an additional 760,954 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth about $260,822,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Linde by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,124,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $910,129,000 after acquiring an additional 544,850 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total transaction of $2,094,802.03. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,643,729.02. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $502.60 on Monday. 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 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. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $510.65. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $483.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $451.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.97 EPS. The company’s 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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th were paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. Citigroup upped their price target on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $515.20.

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.