Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 7,598 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management cut its Linde stake by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 7,598 shares and leaving it with 120,499 shares valued at about $51.4 million.
• Linde insiders also sold shares: EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares and VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares, both on March 10.
• The company reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.33 and revenue of $8.78 billion, both ahead of estimates, while also announcing a $1.60 quarterly dividend and maintaining a Buy consensus from analysts.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lowered its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 120,499 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 7,598 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Linde were worth $51,380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in Linde by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 896,131 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $382,101,000 after acquiring an additional 6,202 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC increased its stake in Linde by 61.0% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 2,269 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $968,000 after acquiring an additional 860 shares during the last quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 19,873 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $8,474,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Linde by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 18,291 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,799,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 43,508 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $18,551,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was 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 owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total value of $2,094,802.03. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $510.86 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.92, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $497.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $459.99. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $521.28.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $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. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $560.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $530.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Linde from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $540.00.

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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