Madison Asset Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Linde PLC $LIN

Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 51,703 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,831,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 19.8% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,569 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $736,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Linde by 19.3% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC grew its position in Linde by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 5,625 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,639,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $481.13 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $221.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50-day moving average is $509.48 and its 200 day moving average is $500.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.88. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.43% and a return on equity of 20.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.09 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.700-17.900 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 4.450-4.550 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be given 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, September 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on LIN shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $600.00 to $580.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Linde from $560.00 to $546.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from 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.