V Square Quantitative Management LLC Takes Position in Linde PLC $LIN

V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 8,063 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,438,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC grew its position in Linde by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 27,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,658,000 after acquiring an additional 2,234 shares during the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its stake in Linde by 45.5% in the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 236,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $112,198,000 after purchasing an additional 73,850 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth $4,243,000. National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of Linde by 2.6% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 967,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,570,000 after buying an additional 24,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 12.3% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 205,318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $97,526,000 after buying an additional 22,489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of Linde 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 approximately $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the company’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This trade represents a 16.44% 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 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $500.48 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $231.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $387.78 and a 1-year high of $510.65. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $486.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $452.40.

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 company had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. Linde’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.97 EPS. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis 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 presently 43.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.20.

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.