FY2027 EPS Estimates for Linde Lifted by Erste Group Bank

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) – Investment analysts at Erste Group Bank upped their FY2027 EPS estimates for shares of Linde in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, March 24th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now expects that the basic materials company will post earnings of $19.45 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $19.42. Erste Group Bank has a “Strong-Buy” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Linde’s current full-year earnings is $16.54 per share.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $8.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.64 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.52% and a net margin of 20.30%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company 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.

LIN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Linde from $540.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Mizuho set a $525.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, February 6th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $455.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $515.20.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $495.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $229.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.82. Linde has a 1-year low of $387.78 and a 1-year high of $510.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $476.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $451.27.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LIN. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in Linde by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc boosted its position in shares of Linde by 10.2% during the 2nd quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Embree Financial Group grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.9% during the third quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 1,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blalock Williams LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Blalock Williams LLC now owns 510 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $217,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.87%.

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.