Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Purchases 58,459 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI bought a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 58,459 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,748,000. Linde makes up approximately 1.7% of Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 42,539.0% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,321,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $56,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,318,709 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Linde by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,402,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,303,494,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,751 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,207,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,793,982,000 after purchasing an additional 912,025 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE purchased a new stake in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at $438,525,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Linde by 129.9% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,445,708 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $616,435,000 after buying an additional 816,744 shares during 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 $483.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $477.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $497.96. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $548.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.99 billion, a PE ratio of 31.25, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.49 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 20.09% and a net margin of 20.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.09 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.700-17.900 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 4.450-4.550 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore raised their target price on shares of Linde from $515.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Berenberg Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $532.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Linde from $580.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $545.80.

Linde Company Profile

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) is a global industrial gases and engineering company that supplies gases, related equipment and process technologies to customers in healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, energy, food and beverage, electronics, and other industries. Its products include oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide and specialty gases.

The company provides gases through on-site production facilities, pipelines, bulk deliveries and packaged cylinders. It also designs and builds industrial gas plants and offers technologies and services for applications such as hydrogen production, carbon capture, clean energy, semiconductor manufacturing, metal fabrication and medical care.

Linde traces its history to 1879, when German engineer Carl von Linde developed refrigeration and gas-related technologies.