Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,785 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,764 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Linde were worth $6,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Linde by 5.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,600,297 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,470,284,000 after acquiring an additional 453,108 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Linde by 18.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,542,991 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,511,751,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182,157 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth about $2,097,793,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,859,539 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,797,156,000 after purchasing an additional 40,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,401,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,577,624,000 after purchasing an additional 61,829 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $426.65 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $456.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $463.07. The stock has a market cap of $199.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.34, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $486.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The company had revenue of $8.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.94 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.350-16.450 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $516.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Linde from $475.00 to $455.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $508.83.

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.