Wesbanco Bank Inc. Grows Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 14.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 34,622 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 4,307 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $14,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 2,234 shares in the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew its position 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 valued at $112,198,000 after acquiring an additional 73,850 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,243,000. National Pension Service grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 24,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its position in Linde by 143.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 15,044 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,415,000 after acquiring an additional 8,863 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 firm’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 transaction of $2,094,802.03. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,643,729.02. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.1%

LIN stock opened at $493.16 on Friday. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $521.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $228.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.75, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $496.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $457.12.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.95 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $552.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $550.00 to $579.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $540.00.

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.