Payden & Rygel Buys Shares of 34,190 Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD)

Payden & Rygel bought a new stake in Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 34,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,241,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in Air Products and Chemicals by 90,916.9% during the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 24,671,052 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,389,720,000 after purchasing an additional 24,643,946 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Air Products and Chemicals by 0.7% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 14,595,383 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,191,940,000 after purchasing an additional 104,973 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Air Products and Chemicals by 3.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,654,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,911,211,000 after purchasing an additional 239,381 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Air Products and Chemicals by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,414,008 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,668,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,729 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Air Products and Chemicals during the fourth quarter worth about $962,356,000. 82.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Air Products and Chemicals Stock Performance

Shares of APD stock traded down $3.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $269.99. The stock had a trading volume of 1,537,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 934,696. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.98 billion, a PE ratio of 26.16, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.86. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $251.63 and a twelve month high of $328.56. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $283.46 and its 200 day moving average is $286.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 7th. The basic materials company reported $3.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Air Products and Chemicals had a return on equity of 17.02% and a net margin of 18.26%. The company’s revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.89 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. will post 13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Air Products and Chemicals Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 2nd will be issued a $1.75 dividend. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 29th. Air Products and Chemicals’s payout ratio is currently 67.83%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Seifi Ghasemi purchased 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $264.42 per share, with a total value of $2,908,620.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 670,673 shares in the company, valued at $177,339,354.66. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on APD shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Air Products and Chemicals in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 26th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Air Products and Chemicals from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $240.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $310.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 8th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $330.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $320.31.

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; specialty gases; and equipment for the production or processing of gases comprising air separation units and non-cryogenic generators for customers in various industries, including refining, chemical, manufacturing, electronics, magnetic resonance imaging, energy production, medical, food, and metals.