Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock Price

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) had its price objective dropped by Citigroup from $600.00 to $580.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 21.10% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Seaport Research Partners boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $525.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Linde from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Linde from $559.00 to $564.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $543.67.

Linde Trading Up 0.1%

LIN stock traded up $0.56 during trading on Monday, reaching $478.94. 1,675,256 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,420,222. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.44 billion, a PE ratio of 30.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $515.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $496.61. Linde has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $4.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.49 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 20.09% and a net margin of 20.43%.The company’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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde will post 17.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Meadowbrook Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Meadowbrook Advisors Group LLC now owns 511 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Blalock Williams LLC increased its stake in Linde by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Blalock Williams LLC now owns 510 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $217,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 1,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Linde by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 4,159 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,062,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Linde

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.