Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Has $1.64 Billion Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has reduced its holdings in Linde PLC by 7.8% in Q1, now owning approximately 3.5 million shares, which constitutes 1.6% of its total holdings.
• Linde recently reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, exceeding analysts' estimates of $4.03, alongside a revenue of $8.50 billion, up 2.3% year-over-year.
• The firm declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.2%, set to be paid on September 18th.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lowered its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 7.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,516,527 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 295,934 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for about 1.6% of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.75% of Linde worth $1,637,436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter valued at $41,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Trading Down 0.9%

Linde stock traded down $4.15 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $474.14. The company had a trading volume of 1,256,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,051,153. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $471.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $462.07. The stock has a market cap of $222.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.95. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.85 earnings per share. The company's quarterly 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. As a group, analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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