Benson Investment Management Company Inc. Acquires Shares of 14,498 Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Benson Investment Management bought a new position of 14,498 shares of Linde (≈$6.18M), representing about 2.2% of its holdings and the firm's 22nd largest position.
• Analysts maintain a consensus "Buy" rating on Linde with an average price target of $521.60; recent activity includes JPMorgan upgrading to "overweight" (PT $525) while DZ Bank cut to "hold" (PT $460).
• Company insiders have sold 20,332 shares (≈$9.75M) in the last three months — including sales by EVP Sean Durbin and VP Guillermo Bichara — leaving insiders with about 0.70% ownership.

Benson Investment Management Company Inc. purchased a new position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 14,498 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $6,182,000. Linde comprises approximately 2.2% of Benson Investment Management Company Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew its stake in shares of Linde by 45.5% during 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 last quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 8.9% during the 4th 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 purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,243,000. National Pension Service grew its position in Linde by 2.6% during 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 period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 205,318 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $97,526,000 after purchasing an additional 22,489 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Linde from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $460.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Mizuho set a $525.00 price objective on Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised 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, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $521.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total value of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total value of $4,542,654.75. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. This represents a 29.93% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257 in the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $492.23 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $387.78 and a 12-month high of $510.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.74, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.78. The business's 50 day moving average is $491.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $453.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.64 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.97 earnings per share. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. Research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This is an increase from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Linde's payout ratio is 43.87%.

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.

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