Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Price Target Cut to $560.00 by Analysts at Citigroup

Key Points

• Citigroup lowered Linde’s price target from $580 to $560 while maintaining a “buy” rating, implying 15.71% upside from the prior close.
• Linde shares fell 1.2% to $483.95, while the broader analyst consensus remained “Buy,” with an average price target of $545.80.
• Linde’s latest results slightly exceeded expectations, with quarterly EPS of $4.50 and revenue of $9.29 billion, up 9.3% year over year; institutional investors own 82.8% of the stock.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) had its target price dropped by equities researchers at Citigroup from $580.00 to $560.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the basic materials company's stock. Citigroup's target price points to a potential upside of 15.71% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on LIN. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $580.00 price objective on Linde and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Evercore increased their target price on Linde from $515.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a report on Monday. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on Linde from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Argus cut their price target on Linde from $563.00 to $538.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $545.80.

Linde Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of LIN stock traded down $6.00 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $483.95. The company had a trading volume of 1,118,799 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,337,038. The company's fifty day moving average is $478.94 and its 200 day moving average is $498.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Linde has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $548.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.09 billion, a PE ratio of 31.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.49 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.43% and a return on equity of 20.09%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.09 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.700-17.900 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 4.450-4.550 EPS. Research analysts expect that Linde will post 17.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 42,539.0% in the fourth 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. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 40.2% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,941,719 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,680,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,001 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Linde by 26.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,402,317 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,303,494,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,751 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Linde by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,207,374 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,793,982,000 after purchasing an additional 912,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch SE acquired a new stake in Linde during the 2nd quarter worth $438,525,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Company Profile

Linde plc NASDAQ: LIN is a global industrial gases and engineering company that supplies gases, related equipment and process technologies to customers in healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, energy, food and beverage, electronics, and other industries. Its products include oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide and specialty gases.

The company provides gases through on-site production facilities, pipelines, bulk deliveries and packaged cylinders. It also designs and builds industrial gas plants and offers technologies and services for applications such as hydrogen production, carbon capture, clean energy, semiconductor manufacturing, metal fabrication and medical care.

Linde traces its history to 1879, when German engineer Carl von Linde developed refrigeration and gas-related technologies.

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