Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Has $8.19 Million Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• The Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund significantly reduced its stake in Linde PLC by selling 99,009 shares, resulting in an ownership decrease of 84.9% during the first quarter.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Buy" for Linde PLC, with price targets ranging from $475.00 to $576.00.
• Linde recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 1.3%, with a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund reduced its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 84.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,587 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 99,009 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in Linde were worth $8,189,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,261,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. AlTi Global Inc. bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $971,000. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in Linde by 75.0% during the first quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 193,563 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $90,131,000 after purchasing an additional 82,952 shares during the period. Freedom Day Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 9.6% during the first quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 6,102 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,841,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $468,360,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $1.34 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $479.85. 638,099 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,068,994. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $468.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $460.47. The stock has a market cap of $225.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.17, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.92. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.85 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.300-16.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.20 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Finally, 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 research report on Wednesday, July 9th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $519.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was 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 directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.