ProShare Advisors LLC Buys 7,816 Shares of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. $APD

ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 593,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,816 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Air Products and Chemicals were worth $165,217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 277.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,161,451 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,597,451,000 after acquiring an additional 28,050,956 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Air Products and Chemicals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,370,093,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,443,531 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,290,801,000 after purchasing an additional 556,188 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 326.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,348,573 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $927,010,000 after acquiring an additional 2,563,873 shares during the period. Finally, Aristotle Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC now owns 2,683,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $779,665,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on APD. Weiss Ratings raised Air Products and Chemicals from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $336.00 to $305.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $330.00 to $312.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of Air Products and Chemicals in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Air Products and Chemicals in a research note on Monday, October 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $353.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.88.

Air Products and Chemicals Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE APD opened at $316.37 on Friday. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $229.11 and a 12-month high of $316.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $70.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -1,438.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $294.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.73.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.34 by $0.13. Air Products and Chemicals had a positive return on equity of 16.87% and a negative net margin of 0.38%. The company had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.09 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. will post 13.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Air Products and Chemicals Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 8th. Investors of record on Monday, January 4th will be given a dividend of $1.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 4th. This represents a $7.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Air Products and Chemicals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -3,290.91%.

Air Products and Chemicals Profile

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc is a global industrial gas and related equipment company serving customers in industries such as refining, chemicals, manufacturing, metals, electronics, food and beverage, healthcare, and energy. The company supplies atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, specialty gases and other industrial gases.

Air Products produces and distributes gases through pipelines, on-site facilities, bulk deliveries and packaged-gas systems.