Linde PLC $LIN Shares Sold by Thornburg Investment Management Inc.

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. cut its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 272,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,558 shares during the period. Linde makes up 1.5% of Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $115,892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,953,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,167,559,000 after purchasing an additional 354,800 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Linde by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,319,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,176,828,000 after purchasing an additional 172,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Linde by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,353,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,820,533,000 after purchasing an additional 35,945 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Linde by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,127,594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,318,325,000 after purchasing an additional 797,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $3,246,750,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Linde from $552.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Linde from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $541.91.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $523.57 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $504.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $471.96. The stock has a market cap of $242.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.72. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $525.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.95 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.50%.

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.