USS Investment Management Ltd Grows Stock Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

USS Investment Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 95,601 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,142 shares during the period. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Linde were worth $40,766,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LIN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,246,750,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 10,454.4% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,424,869 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,033,940,000 after buying an additional 2,401,894 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Linde by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,610,387 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,245,255,000 after buying an additional 1,275,477 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of Linde by 40.2% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,941,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,680,710,000 after buying an additional 1,130,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at about $453,274,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $523.57 on Monday. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $525.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $242.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $504.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $471.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.95 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Linde from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.91.

Linde Profile

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.