Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Cuts Position in Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA reduced its position in shares of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,953 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Air Products and Chemicals were worth $762,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in Air Products and Chemicals by 69.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 784,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $203,513,000 after acquiring an additional 320,651 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 24.4% in the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 100,992 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,061,000 after purchasing an additional 19,836 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 12.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 20,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,166,000 after purchasing an additional 2,223 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 2.9% in the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 36,034 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,299,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Argent Trust Co increased its stake in Air Products and Chemicals by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 13,971 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,605,000 after buying an additional 942 shares during the period. 81.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Air Products and Chemicals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $310.00 to $280.00 in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on Air Products and Chemicals from $290.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Air Products and Chemicals from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Air Products and Chemicals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Air Products and Chemicals has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.40.

Air Products and Chemicals Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE APD opened at $287.27 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $273.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $258.99. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.24 and a 12 month high of $301.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market capitalization of $63.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.81.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.16. Air Products and Chemicals had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 16.53%. The company had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Air Products and Chemicals Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. Air Products and Chemicals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.