Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) by 60.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 60,309 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 22,790 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Air Products and Chemicals were worth $17,850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals by 29,954.1% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,894,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $861,722,000 after purchasing an additional 2,884,581 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,737,260 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals by 127.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,792,470 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $720,597,000 after buying an additional 1,564,169 shares during the period. ING Groep NV increased its stake in Air Products and Chemicals by 240.7% in the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 1,023,433 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $304,717,000 after buying an additional 723,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC raised its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals by 318.7% during the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 948,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $282,473,000 after acquiring an additional 722,132 shares during the period. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on APD. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Air Products and Chemicals from $280.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Air Products and Chemicals from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $330.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $295.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $323.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $350.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.53.

Air Products and Chemicals Stock Performance

NYSE APD opened at $320.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $71.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $317.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $287.66. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.24 and a fifty-two week high of $337.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.52.

Air Products and Chemicals Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Air Products and Chemicals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.21%.

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.