Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $110.62 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas reduced its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 264,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 9,406 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned 0.06% of Linde worth $110,616,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,217,197,000 after acquiring an additional 154,792 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Linde by 372.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,567,958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,592,682 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,300,092,000 after purchasing an additional 89,408 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Linde by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $898,188,000 after purchasing an additional 46,843 shares during the period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its position in Linde by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,680,279 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $703,482,000 after purchasing an additional 49,374 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded up $0.76 during trading on Monday, hitting $459.09. The stock had a trading volume of 2,049,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,724,670. The business has a fifty day moving average of $452.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $454.23. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $217.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. This is a boost from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Linde's payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $501.82.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Profile

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