Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. $APD Stock Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) by 1.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 508,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 6,615 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Air Products and Chemicals were worth $141,420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 0.9% in the second quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 3,911 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Virginia Estate & Retirement Planning Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals by 46.1% in the 3rd quarter. Virginia Estate & Retirement Planning Advisors Inc. now owns 111 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 382 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised its position in Air Products and Chemicals by 0.7% during the first quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,053 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Northcape Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals by 0.4% during the second quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,566,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on APD. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $373.00 target price on shares of Air Products and Chemicals in a research report on Friday, July 31st. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Air Products and Chemicals in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. They set a “sector weight” rating for the company. Argus upped their price target on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $316.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 price target on shares of Air Products and Chemicals in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of Air Products and Chemicals in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.88.

Air Products and Chemicals Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of APD stock opened at $315.48 on Tuesday. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $229.11 and a fifty-two week high of $319.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $294.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -1,433.98, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.76.

Air Products and Chemicals Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 4th will be given a $1.81 dividend. This represents a $7.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 4th. Air Products and Chemicals’s dividend payout ratio is -3,290.91%.

Air Products and Chemicals Profile

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc is a global industrial gas and related equipment company serving customers in industries such as refining, chemicals, manufacturing, metals, electronics, food and beverage, healthcare, and energy. The company supplies atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, specialty gases and other industrial gases.

Air Products produces and distributes gases through pipelines, on-site facilities, bulk deliveries and packaged-gas systems.