Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Announces Earnings Results

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) released its earnings results on Thursday. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04, Zacks reports. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. 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 Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $455.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Linde has a one year low of $410.69 and a one year high of $487.49. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $434.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $453.49. The company has a market cap of $216.85 billion, a PE ratio of 34.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.94.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Company Profile

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.