Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Issues Earnings Results

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04, Zacks reports. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Linde updated its FY 2025 guidance to 16.150-16.550 EPS and its Q1 2025 guidance to 3.850-3.950 EPS.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $455.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.68 billion, a PE ratio of 33.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. Linde has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a fifty day moving average of $434.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $453.55.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LIN. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

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.