Premier Fund Managers Ltd Reduces Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Premier Fund Managers cut its stake in Linde by 30.2% in Q4, selling 11,881 shares and finishing the period with 27,418 shares worth $11.747 million.
• Linde beat quarterly estimates (EPS $4.33 vs. $4.27; revenue $8.78B vs. $8.60B) and set FY2026 guidance at EPS 17.60–17.90 with Q2 guidance of 4.40–4.50.
• Analysts are largely positive, with a consensus "Buy" rating and an average target of $540 (several firms have raised targets to the mid-$500s); the company also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.60 (annual $6.40, ~1.3% yield).

Premier Fund Managers Ltd lessened its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 30.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 27,418 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 11,881 shares during the quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd's holdings in Linde were worth $11,747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC increased its stake in Linde by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 27,341 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $11,658,000 after acquiring an additional 2,234 shares during the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its stake in Linde by 45.5% during the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 236,206 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $112,198,000 after acquiring an additional 73,850 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth $4,243,000. National Pension Service increased its stake in Linde by 2.6% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 967,516 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $459,570,000 after acquiring an additional 24,624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its stake in Linde by 143.4% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 15,044 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $6,415,000 after acquiring an additional 8,863 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Linde from $550.00 to $579.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday. Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Seaport Research Partners lifted their price objective on Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $530.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $540.00.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $501.87 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $232.04 billion, a PE ratio of 33.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.73. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $387.78 and a 12-month high of $521.28. The business's fifty day moving average price is $497.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $456.81.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.Linde's revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.95 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.85 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 42.50%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total transaction of $2,094,802.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,643,729.02. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total value of $3,111,800.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257 over the last ninety days. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company 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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