Linde PLC $LIN Shares Bought by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General raised its stake in Linde by 10.8% in Q3 to 2,755,657 shares, representing about 0.59% ownership and roughly $1.309 billion in value.
• Analyst sentiment and company updates: Linde carries a consensus "Buy" rating with a $508.20 average target (some firms as high as $550), reported a slight quarterly EPS beat, issued FY2026 guidance of $17.40–$17.90, and raised its quarterly dividend to $1.60 ($6.40 annually, ~1.3% yield).

Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,755,657 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 269,038 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.59% of Linde worth $1,308,951,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,638,847 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $20,943,654,000 after acquiring an additional 292,492 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $3,098,772,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Linde by 4.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,044,833 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,897,755,000 after purchasing an additional 185,294 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,718,376 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,744,588,000 after buying an additional 24,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,605,118 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,690,961,000 after buying an additional 40,216 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho set a $525.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $530.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Linde from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $508.20.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $483.62 on Tuesday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $462.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $449.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $224.10 billion, a PE ratio of 33.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $510.65.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This is a boost from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total transaction of $4,542,654.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. This trade represents a 29.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.

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