Analysts Set Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Target Price at $515.20

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) has been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the twelve analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $515.20.

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research note on Friday, March 13th.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $495.76 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $480.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $451.29. The company has a market cap of $229.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.98, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.88. Linde has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $510.65.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.64 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 20.30%.Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.97 EPS. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th were issued a $1.60 dividend. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total value of $3,111,800.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,227.77. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total value of $2,094,802.03. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,953,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,167,559,000 after purchasing an additional 354,800 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,319,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,176,828,000 after purchasing an additional 172,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,353,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,820,533,000 after purchasing an additional 35,945 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Linde by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,127,594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,318,325,000 after purchasing an additional 797,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Linde by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,784,371 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,171,959,000 after purchasing an additional 695,771 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.