DZ Bank Downgrades Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) to Hold

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) was downgraded by stock analysts at DZ Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $460.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock. DZ Bank’s price target points to a potential upside of 0.80% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on LIN. BMO Capital Markets set a $501.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Friday. Mizuho set a $525.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday. CICC Research started coverage on Linde in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $510.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $516.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.20.

Linde Trading Up 1.8%

Linde stock opened at $456.34 on Tuesday. Linde has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $486.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.09 billion, a PE ratio of 31.28, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $432.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $447.40.

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 firm had revenue of $8.76 billion for 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 was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.97 EPS. Linde has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.400-17.900 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Markel Group Inc. increased its position in Linde by 3.1% during the second quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 186,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,549,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Linde by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 967,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $459,570,000 after purchasing an additional 24,624 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 12.3% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 205,318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $97,526,000 after purchasing an additional 22,489 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its position in shares of Linde by 27.2% in the second quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 417,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $195,649,000 after buying an additional 89,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 14.0% in the third quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 44,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,366,000 after buying an additional 5,526 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Company Profile

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.