Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Buys New Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased 218,742 shares of Linde, valued at approximately $113.5 million. Institutional investors own 82.8% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with one Strong Buy, eleven Buy, and one Hold rating; the consensus target price is $545.38.
• Linde exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $4.50 in EPS and $9.29 billion in revenue. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.60 per share, yielding about 1.3% annually.

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 218,742 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $113,514,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Linde by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,319,583 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $9,176,828,000 after purchasing an additional 172,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,353,011 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,820,533,000 after purchasing an additional 35,945 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Linde by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,127,594 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,318,325,000 after purchasing an additional 797,866 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,784,371 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,171,959,000 after purchasing an additional 695,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $3,246,750,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group set a $612.00 price target on Linde in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Linde from $576.00 to $553.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $560.00 to $546.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Linde from $559.00 to $564.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $545.38.

Linde Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of LIN stock opened at $485.35 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $223.74 billion, a PE ratio of 31.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.72. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $548.20. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $505.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $501.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.49 by $0.01. Linde had a return on equity of 20.09% and a net margin of 20.43%.The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.09 EPS. The company's quarterly 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. Research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Linde's payout ratio is 41.34%.

About Linde

Linde NASDAQ: LIN is a multinational industrial gases and engineering company that supplies gases, related technologies and services to a wide range of industries. The company traces its current form to the 2018 combination of Germany's Linde AG and U.S.-based Praxair, creating one of the largest global providers of industrial, specialty and medical gases. Linde's business model centers on production, processing and distribution of gases as well as the design and construction of the plants and equipment needed to produce them.

Core products and services include atmospheric and process gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon; hydrogen and helium; carbon dioxide; and a portfolio of higher‑value specialty and electronic gases.

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