Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Increases Dividend to $1.60 Per Share

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of 1.60 per share by the basic materials company on Thursday, March 26th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. This is a 6.7% increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50.

Linde has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 5 consecutive years. Linde has a dividend payout ratio of 33.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Linde to earn $18.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.3%.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $2.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $506.15. The company had a trading volume of 1,827,454 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,621,552. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.84. Linde has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $509.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $449.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $448.60. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.97 earnings per share. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on LIN. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. DZ Bank downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $516.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho set a $525.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.20.

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.