NZS Capital LLC Acquires 38,490 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

NZS Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 25.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 191,749 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,490 shares during the period. Linde accounts for about 2.8% of NZS Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. NZS Capital LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $91,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LIN. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,569 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $736,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its stake in Linde by 19.3% in the 2nd 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, IFG Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $257,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. CICC Research began coverage on Linde in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price target on the stock. Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. This represents a 29.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of LIN stock opened at $501.68 on Wednesday. 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 current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $457.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $449.65. The stock has a market cap of $232.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.82.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The company had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $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 predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. 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. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.12%.

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.