Seaport Res Ptn Analysts Reduce Earnings Estimates for Linde

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) – Equities researchers at Seaport Res Ptn lowered their Q1 2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of Linde in a research report issued on Wednesday, May 14th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst M. Harrison now forecasts that the basic materials company will post earnings of $4.24 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $4.33. The consensus estimate for Linde’s current full-year earnings is $16.54 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Linde’s Q2 2026 earnings at $4.46 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $4.61 EPS.

LIN has been the subject of several other reports. Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.11.

Linde Trading Up 0.8%

LIN stock opened at $457.77 on Friday. Linde has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $215.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.63, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $451.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $447.77.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Trading of Linde

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 43.57%.

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.