Linde PLC $LIN Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 900 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for approximately 0.5% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Linde were worth $27,775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Linde by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,600,297 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,470,284,000 after acquiring an additional 453,108 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Linde by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,542,991 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,511,751,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182,157 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,097,793,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,859,539 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,797,156,000 after purchasing an additional 40,931 shares during the period. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,339,761 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,533,318,000 after purchasing an additional 9,870 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ LIN opened at $470.37 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $474.57 and a 200-day moving average of $464.50. The company has a market cap of $220.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.45, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.300-16.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.20 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 42.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $520.00.

Linde Profile

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.