Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Raises Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Mirae Asset Global Investments raised its stake in Linde by 23.1% in Q4 to 243,943 shares, worth roughly $104 million (about 0.05% of the company).
• Insider selling accelerated last quarter, with insiders offloading 20,332 shares (~$9.75 million) including sizable sales by VP Guillermo Bichara and EVP Sean Durbin, leaving insiders owning about 0.70%.
• Analyst sentiment and company performance: the stock has a consensus "Buy" with a $521.60 target (some targets up to $580), Linde beat Q results (EPS $4.20 vs. $4.18), and raised its quarterly dividend to $1.60 ($6.40 annual, ~1.3% yield) with FY2026 EPS guidance of 17.4–17.9.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 23.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 243,943 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 45,776 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. owned about 0.05% of Linde worth $104,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Embree Financial Group boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 469 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $223,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 10.2% during the second quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 237 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its position in Linde by 0.3% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 8,571 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,071,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA lifted its position in Linde by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 711 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Mayport LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Mayport LLC now owns 504 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on LIN. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research note on Friday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. DZ Bank cut Linde from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Linde from $545.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $521.60.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $499.22 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $510.65. 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 capitalization of $231.34 billion, a PE ratio of 34.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.78. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $490.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $453.65.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Linde Company 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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