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

Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the twelve research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $543.2727.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LIN. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Linde from $552.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $3,246,750,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,401,894 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in Linde by 42,539.0% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,321,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $56,361,000 after buying an additional 1,318,709 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Linde by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,610,387 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,245,255,000 after buying an additional 1,275,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Linde by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,941,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,680,710,000 after buying 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

LIN stock traded up $0.79 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $541.31. The stock had a trading volume of 361,369 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,462,223. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $511.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $484.30. Linde has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $548.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $250.28 billion, a PE ratio of 35.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.72.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.95 earnings per share. The company’s 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde will post 17.86 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.50%.

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.