Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 900 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 59,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 900 shares during the period. Linde accounts for approximately 0.5% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Linde were worth $27,775,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. North Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Linde during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the first quarter valued at $41,000. eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in Linde during the first quarter valued at $45,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd boosted its position in Linde by 445.0% during the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 109 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Linde during the first quarter valued at $52,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.4%

LIN opened at $470.37 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.56 billion, a PE ratio of 33.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50-day moving average is $474.57 and its 200 day moving average is $464.50.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) 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. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.85 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on LIN. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Saturday, September 27th. 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. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $520.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were 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 owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.