California Public Employees Retirement System Raises Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 958,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,299 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.21% of Linde worth $455,086,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Embree Financial Group grew its position in Linde by 4.9% in the third quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Binnacle Investments Inc grew its position in Linde by 10.2% in the second quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its stake in Linde by 0.3% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 8,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,071,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its stake in Linde by 24.5% during the third quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 122 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total value of $2,094,802.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock worth $9,749,257 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.7%

LIN opened at $493.92 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $510.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $467.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $450.27. The firm has a market cap of $228.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.82.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 20.30%.The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.97 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup upped their price target on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $455.00 to $525.00 in a report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $515.20.

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.