Phraction Management LLC Boosts Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Phraction Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 413.6% in Q4, buying 19,450 shares to hold 24,153 shares worth $10.30 million, representing 2.7% of the fund's portfolio (its 13th largest holding).
• Linde beat Q4 estimates with $4.20 EPS and $8.76 billion revenue (+6.3% YoY), issued Q1 2026 EPS guidance of 4.200–4.300 and FY 2026 guidance of 17.400–17.900, and raised its quarterly dividend to $1.60 ($6.40 annual, ~1.3% yield).
• Analysts are mostly positive—MarketBeat shows a consensus "Buy" with a $521.60 average price target—and institutional investors own 82.8% of shares, although insiders sold roughly 20,332 shares (~$9.75M) in the last 90 days.

Phraction Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 413.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,153 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 19,450 shares during the period. Linde accounts for 2.7% of Phraction Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Phraction Management LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $10,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth $27,000. YANKCOM Partnership lifted its stake in Linde by 195.2% in the third quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Saranac Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $492.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $228.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.78. The firm's fifty day moving average is $491.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $453.76. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $510.65.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.97 EPS. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is a boost from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Linde from $550.00 to $579.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. 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 note on Tuesday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $521.60.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total value of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of the business'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 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.

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