Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Increases Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 8.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 80,085 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,300 shares during the quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Linde were worth $38,040,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $3,098,772,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 82.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,683,248 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $799,543,000 after acquiring an additional 760,954 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in shares of Linde by 18.5% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,972,515 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,394,198,000 after acquiring an additional 463,977 shares during the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at about $187,359,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its position in Linde by 48.7% during the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,131,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $530,617,000 after purchasing an additional 370,261 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of LIN stock opened at $467.51 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $218.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.04, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $434.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $447.45. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $486.38.

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. Research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $516.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $508.20.

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.