ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Makes New Investment in Linde PLC $LIN

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 4,917 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,334,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its position in Linde by 74.2% during the second quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 54 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 96.6% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 57 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1,450.0% in the 1st quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Polaris Financial Partners purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on LIN. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Thursday, September 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $542.00 price target on the stock. 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. Evercore raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $515.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Linde from $612.00 to $574.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $547.29.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock opened at $492.70 on Thursday. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $548.20. The firm has a market cap of $227.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.71. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $478.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $498.13. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 20.43% and a return on equity of 20.09%. The business’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $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. Analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

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.