Shelter Mutual Insurance Co Acquires New Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Shelter Mutual Insurance Co acquired a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 26,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,721,000. Linde comprises about 2.9% of Shelter Mutual Insurance Co’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,275,477 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Linde by 177.2% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,263,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $538,558,000 after purchasing an additional 807,370 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its holdings in Linde by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,198,564 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $511,056,000 after purchasing an additional 231,048 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Linde by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,935,016 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,251,430,000 after purchasing an additional 179,359 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Linde by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 348,815 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $148,731,000 after purchasing an additional 90,858 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $487.57 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $508.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $500.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $548.20. The company has a market cap of $224.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.72.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.49 by $0.01. Linde had a return on equity of 20.09% and a net margin of 20.43%.The business had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.09 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.700-17.900 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 4.450-4.550 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 41.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on LIN. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $580.00 target price on Linde in a report on Monday, August 10th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, July 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $559.00 to $564.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $600.00 to $580.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $545.38.

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.