New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Position in Linde PLC $LIN

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 524,979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 47,167 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Linde were worth $249,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. YANKCOM Partnership grew its stake in Linde by 195.2% in the 3rd quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT grew its stake in Linde by 87.8% in the 3rd quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 77 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $48,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $451.50 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $210.83 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.85. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $424.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $447.95. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $387.78 and a 12-month high of $486.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 21.17%.The business had revenue of $8.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.94 EPS. The company’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, research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets set a $501.00 target price on Linde in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $516.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. CICC Research started coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $475.00 to $455.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.75.

About Linde

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.