Teacher Retirement System of Texas Raises Holdings in Linde plc (NYSE:LIN)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) by 5.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 157,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 7,812 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Linde were worth $50,469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Charter Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Charter Trust Co. now owns 636 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,624 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $519,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 984 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA raised its position in shares of Linde by 11.0% in the 1st quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $106,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 1,234 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. 72.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Credit Suisse Group started coverage on Linde in a research report on Tuesday, May 31st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI raised Linde from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $355.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 31st. Bank of America cut their target price on Linde from $370.00 to $369.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 13th. AlphaValue raised Linde to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Linde from €370.00 ($381.44) to €355.00 ($365.98) and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.86.

Linde Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:LIN opened at $301.97 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $150.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.87. Linde plc has a one year low of $265.12 and a one year high of $352.18. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $296.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $304.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.74.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 2nd will be paid a $1.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 1st. This represents a $4.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 67.83%.

Linde Profile

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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.