State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 3,173 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 161,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,173 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Linde were worth $68,972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Saranac Partners Ltd bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of LIN stock opened at $503.34 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $233.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $496.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $455.77. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $515.63.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The company had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.97 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 43.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on LIN. UBS Group lifted their target price on Linde from $550.00 to $579.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Seaport Research Partners raised their price target on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $527.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total transaction of $2,094,802.03. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde 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.