Wellington Management Group LLP Has $3.45 Billion Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Wellington Management trimmed its Linde stake by 3.6% to 7,267,777 shares, worth about $3.45 billion and roughly 1.56% of the company, making Linde its 25th largest holding.
• Analysts are largely bullish: MarketBeat shows a consensus Buy with an average target of $515.20, and multiple firms recently raised ratings and price targets (e.g., JPMorgan to $525, Citigroup to $545).
• Linde slightly beat quarterly estimates (EPS $4.20 vs. $4.18), set FY2026 guidance at 17.40–17.90 EPS, and increased its quarterly dividend to $1.60 (annualized $6.40, ~1.3% yield).

Wellington Management Group LLP cut its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 3.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,267,777 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 269,015 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up 0.6% of Wellington Management Group LLP's portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 1.56% of Linde worth $3,453,238,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,243,000. National Pension Service increased its holdings in Linde by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 967,516 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $459,570,000 after purchasing an additional 24,624 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 205,318 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $97,526,000 after purchasing an additional 22,489 shares in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its position in Linde by 27.2% in the 2nd quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 417,001 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $195,649,000 after purchasing an additional 89,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR boosted its stake in Linde by 14.0% in the third quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 44,981 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $21,366,000 after purchasing an additional 5,526 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock worth $9,749,257. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. CICC Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $510.00 price objective for the company. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Linde from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.20.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $493.92 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $467.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $450.49. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $510.65. The company has a market capitalization of $228.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.97 earnings per share. 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

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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