Korea Investment CORP Reduces Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Korea Investment CORP cut its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 344,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 18,607 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.07% of Linde worth $163,856,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth $3,098,772,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 82.5% in 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 buying an additional 760,954 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in Linde by 18.5% in 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 position in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at about $187,359,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 48.7% during the 2nd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,131,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $530,617,000 after acquiring an additional 370,261 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $455.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Mizuho set a $525.00 price objective on Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $508.20.

Linde Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of LIN stock opened at $484.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $224.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.22, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82. 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 $461.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $450.11. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $510.65.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.97 EPS. 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.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total value of $4,542,654.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. The trade was a 29.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.