Altrius Capital Management Inc Sells 288 Shares of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD)

Altrius Capital Management Inc reduced its stake in Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,978 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 288 shares during the period. Altrius Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Air Products and Chemicals were worth $4,897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in APD. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in 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 worth $2,720,704,000 after purchasing an additional 4,309,040 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 127.3% in the second 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 grew its stake in Air Products and Chemicals by 0.3% during the second 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 in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals by 2,931.0% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,796,531 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $444,352,000 after acquiring an additional 1,737,260 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Air Products and Chemicals by 50.6% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,547,202 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $374,841,000 after purchasing an additional 520,179 shares in the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on APD shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. 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 report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Air Products and Chemicals from $300.00 to $323.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Air Products and Chemicals from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $276.00 to $281.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.40.

Air Products and Chemicals Stock Performance

NYSE APD opened at $287.27 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $63.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $273.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $258.99. 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 12-month low of $212.24 and a 12-month high of $301.03.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.16. The company 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 forecast that Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. will post 12.32 EPS for the current year.

Air Products and Chemicals Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. 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.