Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.03 EPS

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) announced its earnings results on Friday. The basic materials company reported $4.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.03, Zacks reports. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The company had revenue of $8.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.94 EPS. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Linde updated its FY 2025 guidance to 16.350-16.450 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance to 4.100-4.200 EPS.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $418.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $196.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $465.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $464.49. Linde has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $486.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $521.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Linde by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 935,161 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $438,759,000 after buying an additional 2,386 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in Linde by 1.2% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 754,328 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,915,000 after purchasing an additional 8,928 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 697,520 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $327,254,000 after buying an additional 64,043 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 182,237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,826,000 after purchasing an additional 17,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 8.6% during the second quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 65,722 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,835,000 after buying an additional 5,183 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.