Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Has $129.12 Million Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Caisse de Depot Et Placement du Quebec increased its stake in Linde PLC by 35.7%, owning approximately 0.06% of the company, valued at $129.1 million after acquiring additional shares in Q1.
• Several institutional investors, including Ally Financial and Mirova, also increased their holdings, contributing to the fact that 82.80% of Linde's stock is now owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Linde recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share to be paid on September 18th, reflecting an annualized yield of 1.2% with a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 35.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 277,288 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 72,961 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned approximately 0.06% of Linde worth $129,116,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $0.79 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $482.71. The company had a trading volume of 2,259,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,496,574. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $226.35 billion, a PE ratio of 34.33, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. The business's 50 day moving average price is $470.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $461.63.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company 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 firm posted $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. Analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 42.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $519.63.

About Linde

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.