Industrial gases company Linde raises dividend for 29th year in 2022

Linde plc, formerly Praxair, will raise its quarterly dividend by 10.4 percent to $1.17 per share in 2022. This will mark the 29th consecutive year of dividend increases by the industrial gases company.

On March 1, 2022, Linde plc (symbol LIN) has announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $1.17 per share, reflecting a 10% increase over the previous quarter's dividend. The dividend is payable on March 25, 2022 to shareholders of record on March 11, 2022. A new annual dividend rate of $4.68 per share yields 1.7% at a stock price of $271.

The LIN Board of Directors also approved a new share repurchase program for up to $10 billion of Linde's ordinary shares. This new program replaces the $5 billion share repurchase program that was authorized on January 25, 2021 and was recently completed.

"In 2021, Linde again generated record cash flow," said incoming Chief Executive Officer, Sanjiv Lamba. "Our capital allocation priorities are to maintain a strong balance sheet, invest in high-quality growth opportunities and continue our track record of paying and annually increasing the dividend. Any surplus cash will be used to reward shareholders through a share repurchase program."

Another Dividend Aristocrat announcing a 10 percent dividend hike recently is S&P Global, the owner of the S&P500 Dividend Aristocrats Index.

Linde plc, formerly Praxair, is an industrial gases company. The products in its industrial gases business are atmospheric gases (oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases) and process gases (carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene). Linde also designs and builds equipment that produces industrial gases primarily for internal use and offers customers a range of gas production and processing services, such as olefin plants, natural gas plants, air separation plants, hydrogen and synthesis gas plants and other types of plants.  The company serves a variety of end markets including chemicals & energy, food & beverage, electronics, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and mining. Linde's industrial gases are used in countless applications, from life-saving oxygen for hospitals to high-purity & specialty gases for electronics manufacturing, hydrogen for clean fuels and much more. Linde also delivers state-of-the-art gas processing solutions to support customer expansion, efficiency improvements and emissions reductions.