Seaport Res Ptn Comments on Linde's Q1 Earnings (NASDAQ:LIN)

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) - Seaport Res Ptn lowered their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Linde in a research note issued on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn analyst M. Harrison now anticipates that the basic materials company will post earnings of $3.91 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $4.02. The consensus estimate for Linde's current full-year earnings is $15.45 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Linde's Q2 2025 earnings at $4.13 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $4.32 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $16.71 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $18.38 EPS.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $1.77 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $440.83. The company had a trading volume of 1,733,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,341,667. Linde has a 52-week low of $396.07 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $435.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $453.11. The company has a market capitalization of $209.91 billion, a PE ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LIN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 372.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,567,958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,592,682 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 47,830.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $446,377,000 after acquiring an additional 934,123 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 2,293.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $327,593,000 after acquiring an additional 749,763 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 108.7% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $374,086,000 after acquiring an additional 408,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 131.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 621,444 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $296,342,000 after acquiring an additional 353,136 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. This represents 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.