Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Sells 298 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI lowered its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 59,961 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 298 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up approximately 2.0% of Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in Linde were worth $25,104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Linde by 85.2% during the fourth quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in Linde by 6.7% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,021 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Linde by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after purchasing an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $625,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $468.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $410.69 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $444.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $455.29.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231 over the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.