Renaissance Investment Group LLC Cuts Position in Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD)

Renaissance Investment Group LLC cut its stake in Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) by 19.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,933 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,163 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Air Products and Chemicals were worth $1,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors increased 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 valued at $2,720,704,000 after acquiring an additional 4,309,040 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 3,062,859 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $790,371,000 after acquiring an additional 122,676 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $720,597,000 after acquiring an additional 1,564,169 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of 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. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 25.2% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,936,582 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $499,735,000 after acquiring an additional 389,380 shares during the period. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on 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. Barclays boosted their target price on Air Products and Chemicals from $290.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Air Products and Chemicals from $276.00 to $281.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Vertical Research upgraded Air Products and Chemicals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $336.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Air Products and Chemicals from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $316.47.

Air Products and Chemicals Stock Performance

Shares of APD stock opened at $316.66 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $70.40 billion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $284.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $265.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $212.24 and a 52-week high of $323.86.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. Air Products and Chemicals had a return on equity of 16.53% and a net margin of 21.24%. On average, equities analysts expect that Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. will post 12.33 EPS for the current year.

Air Products and Chemicals Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Air Products and Chemicals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.