Capital Research Global Investors Raises Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,127,594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 797,866 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises about 0.8% of Capital Research Global Investors’ holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Capital Research Global Investors’ holdings in Linde were worth $4,318,325,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 8.9% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 2,234 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth about $4,243,000. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 45.5% during the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 236,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $112,198,000 after buying an additional 73,850 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its holdings in Linde by 143.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 15,044 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,415,000 after purchasing an additional 8,863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Linde by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 238,878 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $113,467,000 after purchasing an additional 11,472 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $507.90 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $503.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $468.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $234.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $521.28.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $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, equities analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.50%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of Linde 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 owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,643,729.02. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. DZ Bank cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Linde from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday. One investment 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 company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $541.91.

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.