Focus Partners Wealth Raises Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Focus Partners Wealth grew its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 115,025 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,734 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in Linde were worth $54,634,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the second quarter worth $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth $27,000. YANKCOM Partnership grew its holdings in Linde by 195.2% in the third quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Guerra Advisors Inc purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total transaction of $4,542,654.75. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at $10,636,202.10. This trade represents a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total value of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock worth $9,749,257. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $497.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $230.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.82. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $387.78 and a 12-month 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $468.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $450.15.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The company’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.97 earnings per share. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 43.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, CICC Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.20.

Linde Company 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.