Sapient Capital LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Sapient Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 44.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm 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 reporting period.

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

Linde Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of LIN opened at $510.86 on Tuesday. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $387.78 and a 1-year high of $521.28. The company has a 50-day moving average of $497.44 and a 200 day moving average of $459.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.92, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.73. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly 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. On average, research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 42.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total value of $2,094,802.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at $10,643,729.02. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This represents 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Linde from $550.00 to $579.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $540.00.

Linde 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.