Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Reaches New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $395.80 and last traded at $395.7890, with a volume of 213265 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $399.57.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $516.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Linde from $475.00 to $455.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $576.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.00.

Linde Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $182.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $434.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $457.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Linde had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 19.38%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.94 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.350-16.450 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.200 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Linde

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 249,742 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $117,174,000 after buying an additional 3,230 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 3.1% in the second quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 186,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $87,549,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Linde in the second quarter valued at about $465,000. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in Linde by 25.9% in the first quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 23,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,970,000 after purchasing an additional 4,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its stake in shares of Linde by 27.2% during the 2nd quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 417,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $195,649,000 after purchasing an additional 89,129 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.