Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $525.87 and last traded at $521.48, with a volume of 2859027 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $523.57.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $541.91.

Linde Trading Down 0.4%

The company has a market capitalization of $241.11 billion, a PE ratio of 34.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s fifty day moving average is $505.24 and its 200-day moving average is $472.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 19.80%. Linde’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.95 earnings per share. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 19.8% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,569 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $736,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its stake in Linde by 19.3% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 3.2% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 5,625 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,639,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Company 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.