Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) to Issue $1.77 Quarterly Dividend

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 18th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of 1.77 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st.

Air Products and Chemicals has increased its dividend payment by an average of 9.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 49 years. Air Products and Chemicals has a dividend payout ratio of 52.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Air Products and Chemicals to earn $13.36 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $7.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.0%.

Air Products and Chemicals Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Air Products and Chemicals stock opened at $300.36 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $277.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $261.59. Air Products and Chemicals has a fifty-two week low of $212.24 and a fifty-two week high of $302.03. The firm has a market cap of $66.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.82.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Air Products and Chemicals will post 12.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on APD. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $291.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America increased their price target 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. Citigroup upped their price objective on Air Products and Chemicals from $280.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Air Products and Chemicals from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Air Products and Chemicals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.50.

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.