Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

Key Points

• Linde reported quarterly earnings of $4.09 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations by $0.06 and demonstrating a year-over-year revenue increase of 2.3% to $8.50 billion.
• The company has updated its FY 2025 earnings guidance to a range of $16.300-16.500 EPS and Q3 2025 guidance to $4.100-4.20 EPS.
• Linde declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.3% with a payout ratio of 43.57%.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06, Zacks reports. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.85 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde updated its FY 2025 guidance to 16.300-16.500 EPS and its Q3 2025 guidance to 4.100-4.20 EPS.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock traded down $1.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $459.16. 1,445,186 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,122,743. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $467.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $457.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.96. Linde has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Linde stock. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 14.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 777 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $325,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $518.80.

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.

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