Linde plc (NYSE:LIN) Stake Boosted by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in Linde plc (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) by 5.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 157,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 7,812 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Linde were worth $50,469,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 24,310,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,422,058,000 after acquiring an additional 450,203 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Linde by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,502,349 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,102,629,000 after acquiring an additional 159,464 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,167,370 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,821,287,000 after acquiring an additional 115,189 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Linde by 51.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,835,794 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,714,440,000 after acquiring an additional 2,646,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its position in Linde by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,657,766 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,654,399,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416,567 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.95% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $301.97 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.87. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $265.12 and a 1-year high of $352.18. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $296.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $304.23.

Linde (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.99 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 13.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.70 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 11.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $1.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 1st. This represents a $4.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on LIN. Credit Suisse Group initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, May 31st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price for the company. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $370.00 to $369.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 13th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Linde from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $355.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Linde from €370.00 ($381.44) to €355.00 ($365.98) and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $390.00 to $355.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.86.

About Linde

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Linde plc operates as an industrial gas and engineering company in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia 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.