Lansdowne Partners UK LLP Acquires 55,908 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Lansdowne Partners UK LLP grew its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 18.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 364,542 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,908 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for approximately 11.3% of Lansdowne Partners UK LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP’s holdings in Linde were worth $173,157,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Embree Financial Group boosted its stake in Linde by 4.9% during the third quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc grew its holdings in Linde by 10.2% in the second quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its holdings in Linde by 0.3% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 8,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,071,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its stake in Linde by 24.5% in the third quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 122 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president directly 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. CICC Research initiated coverage on Linde in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price target on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $515.20.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $497.41 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $468.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $450.15. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $387.78 and a 1-year high of $510.65. The company has a market cap of $230.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.09, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.82.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 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 period last year, the firm earned $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. On average, analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.87%.

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.