Mackenzie Financial Corp Trims Stock Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Mackenzie Financial Corp lowered its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,067,517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 41,894 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $507,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,098,772,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $799,543,000 after buying an additional 760,954 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 18.5% during the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,972,515 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,394,198,000 after buying an additional 463,977 shares in the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $187,359,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 48.7% in the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,131,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $530,617,000 after buying an additional 370,261 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price 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. Erste Group Bank upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Mizuho set a $525.00 price objective on Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $508.20.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $477.94 on Wednesday. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $510.65. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $463.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $449.88. The company has a market cap of $221.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82. 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business 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. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 41.12%.

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 directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. This trade represents a 29.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.