Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Upgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Overweight Rating

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $525.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $455.00.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on LIN. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday. DZ Bank lowered 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. Erste Group Bank raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $515.20.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock opened at $493.92 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $467.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $450.49. Linde has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $510.65. The company has a market capitalization of $228.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The business had revenue of $8.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.97 EPS. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,455 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total value of $4,542,654.75. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,636,202.10. The trade was a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Linde

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,246,750,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 10,454.4% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,424,869 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,033,940,000 after acquiring an additional 2,401,894 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of Linde by 42,539.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,321,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $56,361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,318,709 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Linde by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,610,387 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,245,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Linde by 40.2% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,941,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,680,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,001 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

About Linde

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.