Morse Asset Management Inc Sells 3,441 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Morse Asset Management cut its stake in Linde by 25.7%, selling 3,441 shares and leaving it with 9,973 shares valued at about $4.25 million.
• Linde beat Q1 estimates with $4.33 EPS (vs. $4.27 est.) and $8.78 billion in revenue (up 8.2% YoY) and set FY2026 guidance of 17.60–17.90 EPS and Q2 guidance of 4.40–4.50 EPS.
• Company insiders have been net sellers recently, offloading 20,332 shares (~$9.75 million) in the past 90 days, including VP Guillermo Bichara (9,455 shares) and EVP Sean Durbin (6,520 shares).

Morse Asset Management Inc lowered its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 25.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 9,973 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 3,441 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc's holdings in Linde were worth $4,252,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its position in shares of Linde by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 1,390 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 1,347.4% in the fourth quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 275 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. FWG Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 1,711 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $782,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Sun Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $318,000. Finally, KPP Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,075 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $885,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Linde from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup upped their target price on Linde from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Linde from $512.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $533.00.

Linde Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of LIN opened at $493.55 on Tuesday. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $521.28. The company has a market cap of $228.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $496.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $456.06.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $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 17.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio is currently 42.50%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $10,636,202.10. The trade was a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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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