Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Sets New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) shares hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The company traded as low as $408.21 and last traded at $408.51, with a volume of 2678739 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $413.20.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $475.00 to $455.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Linde from $576.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $508.83.

Linde Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $190.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $450.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $461.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The company had revenue of $8.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.94 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.350-16.450 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.19%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LIN. First Affirmative Financial Network boosted its position in Linde by 2.1% during the third quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 1,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $935,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Caerus Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $395,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,540,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $260,822,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in Linde by 721.7% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 756 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

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.