Sanford C. Bernstein Issues Positive Forecast for Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock Price

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) had its price target upped by Sanford C. Bernstein from $559.00 to $564.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target suggests a potential upside of 17.01% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on LIN. Citigroup initiated coverage on Linde in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $546.75.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $3.62 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $482.00. 510,251 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,411,337. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $515.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $496.61. Linde has a 1-year low of $387.78 and a 1-year high of $548.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market cap of $222.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.72.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.49 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.02 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.43% and a return on equity of 20.09%. Linde’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.09 EPS. Linde has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.700-17.900 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 4.450-4.550 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde will post 17.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $3,246,750,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its position in shares of Linde by 42,539.0% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,321,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $56,361,000 after buying an additional 1,318,709 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Linde by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,610,387 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,245,255,000 after buying an additional 1,275,477 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in Linde by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,941,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,680,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Linde by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,402,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,303,494,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114,751 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Company Profile

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.