Sands Capital Management LLC Sells 25,153 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Sands Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 29.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 59,214 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 25,153 shares during the period. Sands Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $25,248,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,953,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $19,167,559,000 after purchasing an additional 354,800 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Linde by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,319,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,176,828,000 after acquiring an additional 172,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Linde by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,353,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,820,533,000 after acquiring an additional 35,945 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Linde by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,127,594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,318,325,000 after acquiring an additional 797,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $3,246,750,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Linde from $552.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners upped their price objective on Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $541.91.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $523.57 on Monday. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $525.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.77, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $504.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $471.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $8.60 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.95 EPS. The business’s 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. On average, analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

About Linde

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.