Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Grows Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 40.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 542,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 155,618 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Linde were worth $269,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,246,750,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in Linde by 42,539.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,321,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $56,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,318,709 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,275,477 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,130,001 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Linde by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,402,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,303,494,000 after buying an additional 1,114,751 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $559.00 target price on Linde in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Citigroup began coverage on Linde in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $548.67.

Linde Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $512.28 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $516.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $493.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $548.20. The company has a market cap of $236.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.02, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.72.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.95 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.50%.

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.