Beacon Capital Management LLC Purchases 103 Shares of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD)

Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) by 128.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Air Products and Chemicals were worth $44,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of APD. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Air Products and Chemicals by 62.3% during 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. Norges Bank bought a new position in Air Products and Chemicals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $852,288,000. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Air Products and Chemicals by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,099,419 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $508,626,000 after acquiring an additional 167,800 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Air Products and Chemicals by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,029,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $491,730,000 after acquiring an additional 64,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew 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 last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Air Products and Chemicals from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Air Products and Chemicals from $275.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Air Products and Chemicals from $245.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Air Products and Chemicals from $257.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.29.

Air Products and Chemicals Stock Performance

NYSE:APD traded up $23.62 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $287.47. 3,842,256 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,765,103. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $264.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $249.82. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has a one year low of $212.24 and a one year high of $307.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $63.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.81.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.70 by $0.15. Air Products and Chemicals had a return on equity of 16.56% and a net margin of 20.32%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.74 earnings per share. Air Products and Chemicals’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Air Products and Chemicals Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be given 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 2.46%. Air Products and Chemicals’s payout ratio is 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.