Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) Shares Acquired by Anchor Capital Advisors LLC

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) by 28.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 57,183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,608 shares during the quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Air Products and Chemicals were worth $14,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Air Products and Chemicals by 62.3% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,230,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,720,704,000 after purchasing an additional 4,309,040 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Air Products and Chemicals during the fourth quarter worth about $852,288,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Air Products and Chemicals by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,034,818 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $525,085,000 after acquiring an additional 5,140 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Air Products and Chemicals by 2,931.0% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,796,531 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $444,352,000 after acquiring an additional 1,737,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Air Products and Chemicals by 50.6% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,547,202 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $374,841,000 after acquiring an additional 520,179 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Air Products and Chemicals from $300.00 to $323.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $280.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Air Products and Chemicals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $291.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $276.00 to $281.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Air Products and Chemicals presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $297.40.

Air Products and Chemicals Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:APD opened at $268.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $268.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $256.18. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.24 and a 12 month high of $307.71.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.16. Air Products and Chemicals had a return on equity of 16.53% and a net margin of 21.24%. The company had revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Air Products and Chemicals Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. Air Products and Chemicals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.90%.

About Air Products and Chemicals

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc provides atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, equipment, and related services in the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, India, and internationally. The company produces atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, and argon; process gases, such as hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and syngas; and specialty gases for customers in various industries, including refining, chemical, manufacturing, electronics, energy production, medical, food, and metals.