California State Teachers Retirement System Has $270.19 Million Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

California State Teachers Retirement System lessened its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 645,358 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 115,627 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.14% of Linde worth $270,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Linde by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,857,741,000 after purchasing an additional 554,480 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $2,901,853,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Linde by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,925,322 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,062,085,000 after buying an additional 500,489 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded down $5.18 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $448.05. 2,536,368 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,954,106. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $453.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $450.09. The firm has a market cap of $211.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $498.00.

Linde Company 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.