Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Buys 38,630 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co more than doubled its Linde stake in Q4, buying 38,630 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 73,500 shares worth about $31.3 million.
• Linde reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, with EPS of $4.33 versus estimates of $4.27 and revenue of $8.78 billion versus expectations of $8.60 billion, while also raising guidance for FY 2026 and Q2 2026.
• The stock has continued to draw generally positive analyst sentiment, with a Buy consensus and an average price target of $540; Linde also announced a quarterly dividend of $1.60 per share.

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 110.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 38,630 shares during the period. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co's holdings in Linde were worth $31,340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Linde during the second quarter valued at $25,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Saranac Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 134.5% during the 4th quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 68 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $560.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $550.00 to $579.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Mizuho set a $525.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded shares of Linde from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $460.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $540.00.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $501.98 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $521.28. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $501.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $465.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $232.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.73.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.95 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LIN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.