Linde PLC $LIN Shares Sold by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 537,411 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 66,615 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 0.12% of Linde worth $255,270,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. YANKCOM Partnership grew its position in shares of Linde by 195.2% in the third quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Guerra Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total transaction of $4,542,654.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. This trade represents a 29.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. DZ Bank lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $508.20.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $508.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $235.44 billion, a PE ratio of 34.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $510.65. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $454.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $449.46.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.97 EPS. Linde’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.12%.

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.