Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 86,480 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Teacher Retirement System of Texas decreased its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 157,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 86,480 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Linde were worth $74,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. YANKCOM Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 195.2% during the third quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT increased its stake in shares of Linde by 87.8% in the third quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 77 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets set a $501.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Linde from $475.00 to $455.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $516.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.75.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $445.64 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $421.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $448.58. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $486.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $208.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 21.17%.The company had revenue of $8.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.94 EPS. The firm’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 and its Q4 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 40.19%.

Linde Company 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.