Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock Now Rated “Buy” by Sell-Side Analysts

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $545.07.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, July 10th. KeyCorp began coverage on Linde in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $542.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $580.00 price objective on Linde in a report on Monday, August 10th.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $468.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $215.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $484.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $498.82. Linde has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 20.09% and a net margin of 20.43%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde will post 17.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 41.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Capital International Investors increased 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 valued at $3,245,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275,477 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its stake in Linde by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,198,564 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $511,056,000 after purchasing an additional 231,048 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Linde by 177.2% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,263,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $538,558,000 after acquiring an additional 807,370 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,935,016 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,251,430,000 after acquiring an additional 179,359 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 35.2% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 348,815 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $148,731,000 after buying an additional 90,858 shares during the period. 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 across a range of industries. Its products include oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, specialty gases and medical gases.

The company serves customers in sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, food and beverage, electronics, chemicals, energy and metals. Linde also designs and builds industrial gas plants and provides engineering, project management and process technology services for industrial and energy applications.

Linde traces its history to 1879 and was formed in its current structure through the 2018 merger of Linde AG and Praxair, Inc The company operates internationally, serving customers in numerous countries across the Americas, Europe, Asia and other regions.