Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Has $269.18 Million Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 40.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 542,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 155,618 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned approximately 0.12% of Linde worth $269,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,953,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $19,167,559,000 after buying an additional 354,800 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,319,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,176,828,000 after acquiring an additional 172,162 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,353,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,820,533,000 after acquiring an additional 35,945 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Linde by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,127,594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,318,325,000 after acquiring an additional 797,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Linde by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,784,371 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,171,959,000 after acquiring an additional 695,771 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on LIN. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, July 10th. Seaport Research Partners raised their target price on Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $548.67.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock opened at $512.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $236.85 billion, a PE ratio of 34.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business has a 50 day moving average of $516.05 and a 200-day moving average of $493.94. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $387.78 and a 12-month high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued 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 company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.60 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.Linde’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.95 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 17.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 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.