Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Upgraded by Seaport Res Ptn to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Linde’s Q3 2026 earnings at $4.56 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $4.58 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $19.45 EPS.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on LIN. UBS Group cut their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Linde from $475.00 to $455.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $516.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday. Citigroup decreased their target price on Linde from $535.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $514.83.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $412.18 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.28 billion, a PE ratio of 29.32, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.93. Linde has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $486.38. The business’s 50 day moving average is $464.09 and its 200-day moving average is $464.32.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.Linde’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.94 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.350-16.450 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.19%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Linde by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors grew its position in Linde by 28.1% during the first quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 2,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $982,000 after buying an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 18.4% in the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 3,673 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,709,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 873,884 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $406,915,000 after purchasing an additional 129,173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

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.