Wedmont Private Capital Decreases Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Wedmont Private Capital cut its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 23.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,146 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 19.8% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,569 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $736,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its holdings in Linde by 19.3% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in Linde in the second quarter valued at $817,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted 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 reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. DZ Bank downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $515.20.

Linde Stock Down 0.3%

LIN opened at $488.15 on Monday. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $510.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $473.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $450.56.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.97 EPS. The business’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. Analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. 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. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total value of $2,094,802.03. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257 over the last ninety days. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.