Sky Investment Group LLC Purchases 1,591 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Sky Investment Group LLC increased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,591 shares during the period. Linde accounts for about 2.1% of Sky Investment Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $12,442,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Linde by 10,454.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,401,894 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $453,274,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 82.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,683,248 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $799,543,000 after purchasing an additional 760,954 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth $260,822,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Linde by 34.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,124,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $910,129,000 after purchasing an additional 544,850 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total value of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total transaction of $2,094,802.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 20,332 shares of company stock worth $9,749,257 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Down 0.9%

NASDAQ LIN opened at $491.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a fifty day moving average of $477.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $451.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $227.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.66, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.82. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $510.65.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm 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. On average, analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th were given a $1.60 dividend. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, DZ Bank cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $515.20.

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.