Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) Announces $1.77 Quarterly Dividend

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 18th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of 1.77 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st.

Air Products and Chemicals has raised its dividend by an average of 9.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 49 years. Air Products and Chemicals has a dividend payout ratio of 52.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Air Products and Chemicals to earn $13.36 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $7.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.0%.

Air Products and Chemicals Price Performance

NYSE APD opened at $300.36 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.27. The business’s fifty day moving average is $277.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $261.59. Air Products and Chemicals has a 1 year low of $212.24 and a 1 year high of $302.03.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.16. Air Products and Chemicals had a return on equity of 16.53% and a net margin of 21.24%. The company had revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Air Products and Chemicals will post 12.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Air Products and Chemicals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $310.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $300.00 to $323.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $280.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.50.

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.