Linde plc (LIN) Stock: Insider Buying, $500+ Analyst Targets and the Q4 2025 Outlook

Updated: December 10, 2025

Linde plc (NASDAQ: LIN), the world’s largest industrial gases company, is trading near its 52‑week low even as management delivers record earnings and analysts keep price targets comfortably above $500 a share. With fresh insider buying, rising short interest and a flurry of new research coverage, Linde’s stock is at the center of an unusually loud debate for what is normally a “boring” blue chip.

As of midday on December 10, 2025, Linde shares change hands around $390, giving the company a market cap of about $182 billion. The stock’s 52‑week range runs from roughly $388 to $486, putting the current price near the bottom of that band. ^[1]

Below is a deep dive into the latest news, forecasts and analyses shaping the investment case for Linde right now.

Linde stock today: quality compounder on sale or value trap?

Data from StockAnalysis shows Linde generating trailing 12‑month revenue of about $33.5 billion and net income of roughly $7.1 billion, implying a net margin around 21%. At about $390 per share, the stock trades at a P/E of ~26 on trailing earnings and a forward P/E around 22–22.5, with a dividend yield near 1.5% on an annual payout of $6.00 per share. ^[2]

Put simply: this is still a premium multiple for a mature industrial, but notably lower than where Linde traded earlier in 2025, when the share price sat closer to its 52‑week high above $480. ^[3]

Over the past year, Linde has underperformed the broader market despite steady fundamentals, leaving many long‑term holders frustrated and setting the stage for the recent storm of commentary.

Fresh headlines as of December 10, 2025

1. CEO Sanjiv Lamba buys nearly $1 million of stock

On December 8, 2025, CEO Sanjiv Lamba purchased 2,520 Linde shares at an average price of $396.68, for a total of about $999,600. Following the transaction, he now directly holds just over 90,794 shares in the company. ^[4]

Insider transactions don’t guarantee future performance, but a CEO buying stock near a 52‑week low is typically interpreted as a vote of confidence in the company’s long‑term prospects.

2. Stock hits a new 52‑week low despite solid earnings

On December 8, Linde’s share price slipped to a new 52‑week low around $395.80, well below its 50‑day and 200‑day moving averages. ^[5]

MarketBeat’s coverage notes that this decline came even though Linde beat Q3 2025 EPS estimates ($4.21 vs. $4.18) and issued 2025 guidance implying mid‑single‑digit earnings growth. ^[6]

The message from the tape: investors remain cautious despite fundamentally solid numbers.

3. Jim Cramer calls the stock “nothing but nastiness”

On December 4, CNBC’s Jim Cramer described Linde’s recent performance as “nothing but nastiness” during his lightning round, emphasizing the painful drawdown even as he acknowledged it as a “great industrial gas” company. ^[7]

This comment sparked a wave of follow‑up coverage examining whether the sell‑off is justified, adding media pressure to what is usually a low‑drama name.

4. CICC, UBS, Seaport and others reaffirm bullish analyst stance

Analyst activity has remained broadly positive:

CICC initiated coverage on December 3 with an Outperform rating and a $510 price target, citing record Q3 earnings, strong cash generation and 32 consecutive years of dividend growth. ^[8]
UBS reiterated a Buy rating with a $500 target, expecting adjusted EPS to grow more than 10% over the next year. ^[9]
Seaport Global Securities upgraded Linde from Neutral to Buy with a $500 target, highlighting a recovery in volumes and “solid” Q3 results. ^[10]

Despite some target cuts earlier in the year, the Street remains firmly in the bullish camp.

5. Short interest ticks higher but remains modest

A Benzinga piece on December 9 notes that Linde’s short interest has risen 5.26% since the last report, to 6.62 million shares, or about 1.4% of the float, with 2.18 days to cover. ^[11]

That’s still low relative to peers—indicating some growing skepticism, but hardly an aggressive bet against the stock.

6. Big money: hedge funds and asset managers adjust positions

Quiver Quantitative reports that in Q3 2025 Flossbach von Storch SE added 355,950 Linde shares, while nearly 1,000 institutional investors increased their positions and 856 reduced them over recent quarters. ^[12]

At the same time, some large holders such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. have trimmed stakes, underlining that even sophisticated investors are split on the near‑term risk/reward.

Earnings recap: Q3 2025 beat and Q4 guidance

Linde’s official Q3 2025 report, released October 31, offers critical context for the current stock action: ^[13]

Sales: $8.6 billion, up 3% year over year.
Adjusted operating profit: $2.6 billion, up 3%, with a 29.7% margin, 10 bps higher than last year.
Adjusted EPS:$4.21, 7% higher year over year and above consensus of around $4.18. ^[14]
Operating cash flow:$2.9 billion, up 8%, with free cash flow of $1.67 billion after capex. ^[15]
Capital returns: $1.69 billion returned via dividends and buybacks just in Q3. ^[16]

Management also provided Q4 and full‑year 2025 guidance:

Q4 2025 adjusted EPS:$4.10–$4.20, implying 3–6% growth (1–4% excluding a 2% currency tailwind). ^[17]
Full‑year 2025 adjusted EPS:$16.35–$16.45, 5–6% growth vs. 2024. ^[18]

CEO Sanjiv Lamba emphasized that this performance came against a backdrop of “stagnant industrial activity,” underscoring Linde’s ability to expand margins and cash flow even in a soft macro environment. ^[19]

Dividend and income profile: a modern dividend aristocrat

Linde declared a $1.50 quarterly dividend for Q4 2025, payable December 17 to shareholders of record on December 3. ^[20]

With four such payouts in 2025, the annual dividend is $6.00 per share, representing:

A yield of about 1.5% at current prices. ^[21]
The 32nd consecutive year of dividend growth, according to CICC’s initiation note. ^[22]

The combination of a growing dividend, robust free cash flow and consistent buybacks is a key reason Linde features regularly in “Dividend Aristocrats” and “best dividend growth stocks” lists. ^[23]

How Wall Street sees Linde: consensus buy with ~30% upside

Two major aggregators give a good snapshot of current analyst sentiment:

MarketBeat:
- Consensus rating:Buy (9 Buy/Strong Buy, 1 Hold).
- Average 12‑month target:$509, with a range of $455–$540, implying ~30% upside from around $390. ^[24]
WallStreetZen:
- Average target:$504.14, high $540, low $455, also implying about 29% upside.
- Classifies the analyst view as “Strong Buy”, though its own quant model rates LIN as a “Hold” based on broader factor screens. ^[25]

EPS forecasts point to steady high single‑digit earnings growth:

Average EPS estimate of $16.58 for 2025, $18.03 for 2026 and $19.80 for 2027, according to WallStreetZen’s compilation of 29 analysts. ^[26]

In short, fundamental analysts largely view the recent sell‑off as overdone, expecting earnings to compound and the share price to converge toward the $500 area over the next year or so.

Quant, technical and algorithmic views

Not all models are as bullish as the human analysts.

Technical analysis and trading signals

Research site StockInvest.us currently classifies Linde as a “Hold/Accumulate” candidate after upgrading it from a prior Sell rating. The service notes that: ^[27]

The stock still shows negative signals from both short‑ and long‑term moving averages.
Resistance is seen around $401 and $419, with support near $389.
The 52‑week high and low stand at $486.38 and $388.50, respectively.

Overall, the technical picture remains cautious but recognizes the potential for a turnaround if the stock can break above key resistance levels.

Algorithmic price predictions

Crypto‑style forecast site CoinCodex has a short‑term model projecting that Linde’s share price could rise modestly in the days ahead: ^[28]

Tomorrow’s forecast: around $409–$410, roughly 4–5% above today’s price.
Five‑day forecast: about $418, implying a roughly 2% gain over the next week from its current reference level.
One‑year algorithmic forecast: around $416–417, suggesting only low‑single‑digit upside over 12 months.

Notably, CoinCodex’s own sentiment gauge currently flags “bearish” technical conditions, with 24 out of 26 indicators flashing negative. ^[29]

These tools can be useful for short‑term traders, but their methodologies differ significantly from Wall Street’s fundamental models and should be treated as speculative.

Is Linde undervalued? Conflicting valuation models

Valuation‑focused platforms show an unusually wide spread in fair‑value estimates.

Simply Wall St: narrative vs. strict DCF

A December 7 deep‑dive on Simply Wall St highlights two contrasting views: ^[30]

The “most popular narrative” on the platform sees Linde as about 21% undervalued, assigning a fair value of roughly $505.61 versus a recent close near $399.
Simply Wall St’s own DCF model, however, suggests a fair value closer to $310.78, implying the shares might actually be overvalued if cash flows don’t ramp as optimistically as narrative‑driven models assume.

The article frames Linde as a classic “quality vs. valuation” puzzle: a superb business whose current price may or may not fully reflect long‑dated growth assumptions.

TIKR: steady double‑digit total return potential

On November 13, TIKR published a valuation piece arguing that: ^[31]

Linde’s $10 billion project backlog, expansion in electronics and AI‑driven productivity initiatives position the company for mid‑single‑digit revenue growth and mid‑20s net margins.
Using a 5.4% revenue growth rate, 24.6% net margin and a 26x exit P/E, their base‑case model projects the stock could deliver around 10% annualized returns, with scenarios that see the share price rising to the $520–$640 range by 2029.

TIKR essentially concludes that Linde is a high‑quality compounder capable of delivering solid but not spectacular returns from current levels, assuming management executes on its backlog and secular growth themes.

Under the hood: business fundamentals and growth drivers

Linde isn’t a trendy AI stock, but it sits at the heart of several long‑term themes: ^[32]

Industrial gases everywhere: Linde supplies oxygen, nitrogen, argon and a variety of process gases (hydrogen, CO₂, helium, specialty gases) to customers in chemicals and energy, metals, manufacturing, food and beverage, healthcare and electronics.
Mission‑critical infrastructure: Many contracts are long‑term on‑site supply agreements tied to customer facilities, creating sticky, recurring cash flow with high switching costs.
Energy transition: Linde is heavily involved in clean hydrogen production, carbon capture and other decarbonization projects, backed by a multi‑billion‑dollar sale‑of‑gas and engineering backlog.
Geographic diversification: Operations span the Americas, EMEA and APAC, helping cushion regional slowdowns but also exposing the company to FX swings and differing industrial cycles.

Q3 segment data showed modest volume softness in Europe and Asia but continued pricing power and strong margins, particularly in EMEA where operating margins approached 36% of sales. ^[33]

Key risks investors are watching

Despite the bullish long‑term narrative, several risks are front of mind in the latest coverage:

Industrial slowdown, especially in Europe
Linde’s own commentary and third‑party analyses flag stagnant or declining volumes in some industrial end markets (e.g., metals, manufacturing), particularly in Europe. ^[34]
Valuation sensitivity to growth assumptions
Models from Simply Wall St and TIKR show that fair value estimates move dramatically when you tweak growth or margin assumptions. If earnings compound more slowly than expected, today’s P/E near the mid‑20s may prove rich. ^[35]
Large project execution and energy‑transition risk
Hydrogen and carbon‑capture projects can be capital intensive and politically exposed. Delays, cost overruns or policy reversals could impact returns on Linde’s sizeable clean‑energy backlog. ^[36]
Currency and interest‑rate effects
With meaningful international exposure, Linde’s reported earnings are sensitive to FX movements and the cost of capital, especially for long‑duration infrastructure projects. ^[37]
Sentiment and technical overhang
Rising short interest, negative technical signals and high‑profile criticism (like Cramer’s comments) can reinforce selling pressure in the short term, even if fundamentals remain intact. ^[38]

So what does it all add up to?

Here’s the simplified picture of Linde plc stock on December 10, 2025:

The business continues to perform well, with record EPS, strong free cash flow and mid‑single‑digit earnings growth guided for 2025. ^[39]
The balance of analyst opinion is clearly positive, with consensus Buy/Strong Buy ratings and average price targets around $505–$510, implying roughly 30% upside. ^[40]
Insiders and some institutions are adding to positions, while short interest remains low but rising. ^[41]
Quant and technical models are far less enthusiastic, with several services flagging the chart as weak and only modest algorithmic upside in the near term. ^[42]
Valuation models disagree, ranging from a DCF fair value near $310 to narrative and backlog‑driven estimates north of $500. ^[43]

For long‑term, fundamentals‑driven investors, Linde currently looks like a high‑quality compounder temporarily out of favor. For short‑term traders, the technical downtrend and elevated volatility may justify caution until the chart stabilizes.

Either way, the latest insider buy, analyst support and Q4 guidance ensure that Linde plc will remain a closely watched name into 2026.