Linde PLC $LIN Shares Bought by Markel Group Inc.

Markel Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 204,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares during the quarter. Markel Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $101,432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 19.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,569 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $736,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its position in Linde by 19.3% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $421,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 3.2% during the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 5,625 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,639,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on LIN. Citigroup began coverage on Linde in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Seaport Research Partners increased their target price on Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Linde from $552.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $541.75.

Linde Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $4.23 during trading on Friday, hitting $529.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,857,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,264,075. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $513.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $487.73. The company has a market capitalization of $244.95 billion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.83. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.95 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.50%.

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.