Linde PLC $LIN Shares Purchased by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 30.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 704,703 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 162,857 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.15% of Linde worth $365,698,575 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $3,246,750,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in shares of Linde by 42,539.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,321,809 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $56,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,318,709 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,610,387 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,245,255,000 after buying an additional 1,275,477 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 40.2% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,941,719 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,680,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,402,317 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,303,494,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,751 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $576.00 to $553.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Linde from $560.00 to $546.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $580.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $563.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $545.07.

Linde Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Linde stock traded down $2.01 on Tuesday, reaching $462.40. The stock had a trading volume of 576,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,340,448. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $494.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $500.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.72. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.49 by $0.01. Linde had a net margin of 20.43% and a return on equity of 20.09%. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.09 EPS. The business's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.700-17.900 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 4.450-4.550 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 3rd. Linde's payout ratio is 41.34%.

Linde Company Profile

Linde plc NASDAQ: LIN is a global industrial gases and engineering company that supplies gases, related equipment and process technologies to customers across a range of industries. Its products include oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, specialty gases and medical gases.

The company serves customers in sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, food and beverage, electronics, chemicals, energy and metals. Linde also designs and builds industrial gas plants and provides engineering, project management and process technology services for industrial and energy applications.

Linde traces its history to 1879 and was formed in its current structure through the 2018 merger of Linde AG and Praxair, Inc The company operates internationally, serving customers in numerous countries across the Americas, Europe, Asia and other regions.

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