Sky Investment Group LLC Acquires 1,591 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Sky Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,591 shares during the period. Linde comprises approximately 2.1% of Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $12,442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. YANKCOM Partnership lifted its holdings in Linde by 195.2% during the 3rd quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $491.12 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $227.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.66, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $477.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $451.23. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $510.65.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The business had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.97 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $515.20.

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.