Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) Short Interest Update

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,590,000 shares, an increase of 37.4% from the September 15th total of 3,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,350,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 62.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,230,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,720,704,000 after acquiring an additional 4,309,040 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its stake in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 4.2% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 3,062,859 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $790,371,000 after purchasing an additional 122,676 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 127.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,792,470 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $720,597,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564,169 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 0.3% during the second 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 buying an additional 5,140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals by 25.2% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,936,582 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $499,735,000 after buying an additional 389,380 shares in the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

APD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Vertical Research upgraded shares of Air Products and Chemicals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $336.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Air Products and Chemicals from $280.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho lifted their target price on Air Products and Chemicals from $308.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI upgraded Air Products and Chemicals from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $305.00 to $365.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $300.00 to $323.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $316.47.

Air Products and Chemicals Stock Up 1.2 %

APD stock opened at $320.58 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $285.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $266.45. The company has a market cap of $71.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.27. Air Products and Chemicals has a fifty-two week low of $212.24 and a fifty-two week high of $323.86.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Air Products and Chemicals will post 12.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Air Products and Chemicals Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. Air Products and Chemicals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.90%.

Air Products and Chemicals Company Profile

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.