Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Sells 27,769 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund decreased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 17.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 129,827 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 27,769 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Linde were worth $55,357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $3,246,750,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 10,454.4% in the fourth 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth $453,274,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth $260,822,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 544,850 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. DZ Bank cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Linde from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.91.

Linde Trading Up 0.1%

Linde stock opened at $507.90 on Friday. 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 PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $521.28. The stock has a market capitalization 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. The business’s fifty day moving average is $503.06 and its 200 day moving average is $468.02.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The company had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.60 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $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. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,643,729.02. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company 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.