Barings LLC Cuts Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Barings LLC lowered its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 66.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 19,397 shares during the period. Barings LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,095,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $3,246,750,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Linde by 10,454.4% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,424,869 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,033,940,000 after buying an additional 2,401,894 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Linde by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,610,387 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,245,255,000 after buying an additional 1,275,477 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Linde by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,941,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,680,710,000 after buying an additional 1,130,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $453,274,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $515.44 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $387.78 and a 1-year high of $522.89. The company has a market capitalization of $238.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.23, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $504.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $471.14. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.95 EPS. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup increased 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. 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.91.

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.