Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Sets New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

24 Apr 2026, 19:36 by Sarita Garza · The Markets Daily

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN – Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high on Friday after Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $512.00 to $552.00. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Linde traded as high as $510.65 and last traded at $509.7540, with a volume of 755653 shares. The stock had previously closed at $508.06.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on LIN. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $527.80.

View Our Latest Analysis on LIN

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at $10,643,729.02. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Sean Durbin sold 6,520 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.27, for a total value of $3,111,800.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,227.77. This trade represents a 44.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 20,332 shares of company stock valued at $9,749,257 in the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Triumph Capital Management grew its position in Linde by 69.2% in the fourth quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 66 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership grew its position in Linde by 195.2% in the third quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new position in Linde in the third quarter valued at $29,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Up 0.4%

The firm has a market cap of $236.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50-day moving average is $494.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $454.57. 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 – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $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. As a group, analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th were given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.87%.

Linde Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.