Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the twelve research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $515.20.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total value of $2,094,802.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock worth $9,749,257 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,246,750,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 10,454.4% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,424,869 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,033,940,000 after acquiring an additional 2,401,894 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Linde by 42,539.0% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,321,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $56,361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,318,709 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Linde by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,610,387 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,245,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Linde by 40.2% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,941,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,680,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,001 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $502.60 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $232.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.45, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Linde has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $510.65. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $482.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $451.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 20.30%.The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.97 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.87%.

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.