Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 2,017 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,017 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Linde were worth $14,450,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in Linde by 29.1% during the 1st quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 1,380 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $643,000 after buying an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 74.5% during the first quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 25,393 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,825,000 after buying an additional 10,844 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 19.6% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,918,000 after buying an additional 674 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Linde from $475.00 to $455.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. CICC Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eight have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $501.00.

Linde Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of LIN stock opened at $416.24 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $426.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $455.75. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $387.78 and a 12-month high of $486.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $194.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.85.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 21.17%.Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.94 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.350-16.450 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate 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 issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.19%.

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.