Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Price Target Raised to $579.00

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) had its price objective raised by analysts at UBS Group from $550.00 to $579.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. UBS Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 15.04% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on LIN. Mizuho set a $525.00 price objective on Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Linde from $540.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $518.10.

Linde Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of LIN traded up $2.82 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $503.30. The stock had a trading volume of 1,916,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,667,281. The company has a market cap of $233.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.50, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $486.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $452.40. Linde has a 1-year low of $387.78 and a 1-year high of $510.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The company’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.97 earnings per share. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Linde will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total transaction of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,227.77. The trade was a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.79, for a total value of $2,094,802.03. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,643,729.02. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,246,750,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 10,454.4% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,424,869 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,033,940,000 after buying an additional 2,401,894 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in Linde by 42,539.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,321,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $56,361,000 after buying an additional 1,318,709 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Linde by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,610,387 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,245,255,000 after buying an additional 1,275,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 1,130,001 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.