Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Buys Shares of 21,185 Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky bought a new stake in Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD – Get Rating) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 21,185 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,931,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in APD. Public Investment Fund grew its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals by 269.2% in the 2nd quarter. Public Investment Fund now owns 2,685,331 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $645,768,000 after buying an additional 1,957,991 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals by 5,609.4% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 718,301 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $168,758,000 after buying an additional 705,720 shares during the last quarter. Credit Suisse AG grew its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals by 89.5% in the 2nd quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 1,382,411 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $332,443,000 after buying an additional 652,949 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals by 36.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,287,687 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $321,806,000 after buying an additional 342,982 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Air Products and Chemicals in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $71,442,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.74% of the company’s stock.

Air Products and Chemicals Trading Down 1.8 %

APD stock opened at $274.74 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $61.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.96, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.84. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.88 and a twelve month high of $328.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business has a fifty day moving average of $294.11 and a 200-day moving average of $281.55.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.73 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.27 billion. Air Products and Chemicals had a return on equity of 16.45% and a net margin of 17.61%. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. will post 11.39 EPS for the current year.

Air Products and Chemicals Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 31st. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. This is an increase from Air Products and Chemicals’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. Air Products and Chemicals’s payout ratio is presently 63.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Sean D. Major sold 485 shares of Air Products and Chemicals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.00, for a total transaction of $151,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,468,075. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on APD shares. Vertical Research raised Air Products and Chemicals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 13th. Societe Generale lowered Air Products and Chemicals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Air Products and Chemicals from $394.00 to $386.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Air Products and Chemicals from $280.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Air Products and Chemicals from $339.00 to $329.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.75.

Air Products and Chemicals Company Profile

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Air Products & Chemicals, Inc engages in the manufacture and distribution of atmospheric gases. It operates through the following segments: Industrial Gases-Americas, Industrial Gases-EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), Industrial Gases-Asia, Industrial Gases-Global, and Corporate & Other. The Industrial Gases-America, EMEA, and Asia segment markets and produces atmospheric gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases, process gases, such as hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, syngas, and specialty gases and equipment for the production and processing of gases, such as air separation units and non-cryogenic generators.