Sapient Capital LLC Boosts Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Sapient Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 44.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,078 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 27,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,658,000 after buying an additional 2,234 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at about $4,243,000. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its position in shares of Linde by 45.5% in the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 236,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $112,198,000 after buying an additional 73,850 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in shares of Linde by 143.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 15,044 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,415,000 after buying an additional 8,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Linde by 2.6% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 967,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,570,000 after buying an additional 24,624 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LIN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, May 4th. DZ Bank cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Linde from $550.00 to $579.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $540.00.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $510.86 on Tuesday. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $387.78 and a 12-month high of $521.28. The stock has a market cap of $236.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.92, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $497.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $459.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.