Teacher Retirement System of Texas Decreases Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lessened its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 244,026 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 12,173 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises about 0.5% of Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Linde were worth $114,492,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. North Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. eCIO Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at about $45,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 445.0% in the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 109 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at about $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total value of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $446.00 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $470.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $464.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $209.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.93. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $486.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $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. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Saturday. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $520.00.

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.