Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Receives $519.63 Average PT from Analysts

Key Points

• Linde PLC has received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from analysts, with an average price target of $519.63 among those who have covered the stock.
• The company reported earnings of $4.09 per share for its latest quarter, exceeding analyst estimates, along with a revenue of $8.50 billion.
• Linde announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50, leading to an annualized dividend yield of 1.2%.

Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Buy" by the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $519.6250.

A number of research firms have commented on LIN. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the transaction, the director owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. North Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock traded down $1.55 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $482.04. 2,069,708 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,042,920. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $472.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $462.80. Linde has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $226.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.28, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.85 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.300-16.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.20 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Linde will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Linde's payout ratio is 42.67%.

Linde Company Profile

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.