ING Groep NV Buys 97,679 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

ING Groep NV raised its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 19.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 610,671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 97,679 shares during the period. Linde accounts for 1.6% of ING Groep NV’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Linde were worth $260,384,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at $25,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Saranac Partners Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Caitlin John LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Strengthening Families & Communities LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 134.5% in the fourth quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 68 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $552.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.91.

Linde Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $507.90 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $503.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $468.02. The firm has a market cap of $234.83 billion, a PE ratio of 33.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.72. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $521.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were 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 owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.