Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $541.75.

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $552.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Seaport Research Partners upped their price target on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded up $4.23 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $529.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,857,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,264,075. Linde has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $548.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $244.95 billion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $513.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $487.73.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 20.44%.The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.95 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.600-17.900 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 4.400-4.500 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde will post 17.86 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 42.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased 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 during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased 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 during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its position in Linde by 19.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC raised its position in Linde by 3.2% in the second 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 currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Linde

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.