Linde (LIN) to Release Earnings on Thursday

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) is expected to be posting its Q1 2025 quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, May 1st. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $3.91 per share and revenue of $8.24 billion for the quarter. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.150-16.550 EPS and its Q1 2025 guidance at 3.850-3.950 EPS.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. On average, analysts expect Linde to post $17 EPS for the current fiscal year and $18 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded down $1.13 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $448.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,865,299 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,950,652. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $454.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $450.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $212.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a positive change from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $498.00.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Linde stock. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 14.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 777 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 96 shares during the quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.