Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) Shares Bought by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 118,869 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,288 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Air Products and Chemicals worth $30,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. purchased a new position in shares of Air Products and Chemicals in the fourth quarter worth about $315,000. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,454 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 55,111 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $15,071,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 2,405 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $627,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 5,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,569,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on APD. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $300.00 to $323.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Air Products and Chemicals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.40.

Air Products and Chemicals Stock Up 0.6 %

APD stock opened at $278.85 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $267.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $255.09. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.24 and a 12 month high of $307.71. The company has a market cap of $61.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. Air Products and Chemicals had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 16.53%. Sell-side analysts expect that Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Air Products and Chemicals Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. Air Products and Chemicals’s payout ratio is currently 63.90%.

Air Products and Chemicals 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.