Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) Increases Dividend to $1.79 Per Share

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of 1.79 per share by the basic materials company on Monday, May 12th. This represents a $7.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This is a 1.1% increase from Air Products and Chemicals’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.77.

Air Products and Chemicals has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.7% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 50 years. Air Products and Chemicals has a dividend payout ratio of 51.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Air Products and Chemicals to earn $13.86 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $7.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.7%.

Air Products and Chemicals Price Performance

Air Products and Chemicals stock opened at $292.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $65.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $311.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $309.19. Air Products and Chemicals has a 1 year low of $227.53 and a 1 year high of $341.14.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $2.86 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by ($0.27). Air Products and Chemicals had a return on equity of 15.78% and a net margin of 31.88%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Air Products and Chemicals will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on APD shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $373.00 to $345.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Bank of America lowered Air Products and Chemicals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $350.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Air Products and Chemicals from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Air Products and Chemicals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $395.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $341.47.

Insider Activity at Air Products and Chemicals

In other Air Products and Chemicals news, insider Wilbur Mok sold 1,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.88, for a total value of $410,644.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,008,604.84. The trade was a 28.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Francesco Maione sold 2,016 shares of Air Products and Chemicals stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total transaction of $616,896.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,173,204. The trade was a 34.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,500 shares of company stock worth $4,842,604 in the last 90 days. 0.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Air Products and Chemicals

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Air Products and Chemicals stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) by 14.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,260 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Air Products and Chemicals were worth $945,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.