Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Purchases 57 Shares of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) by 0.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 72,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Air Products and Chemicals were worth $21,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Air Products and Chemicals by 62.3% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,230,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,720,704,000 after buying an additional 4,309,040 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in Air Products and Chemicals by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 3,062,859 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $790,371,000 after purchasing an additional 122,676 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Air Products and Chemicals by 29,954.1% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 2,894,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $861,722,000 after purchasing an additional 2,884,581 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 127.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,792,470 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $720,597,000 after buying an additional 1,564,169 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,043,099 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $608,312,000 after acquiring an additional 33,313 shares during the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APD has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Air Products and Chemicals from $280.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $308.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $340.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Air Products and Chemicals from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Air Products and Chemicals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $295.00 to $364.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $326.12.

Air Products and Chemicals Price Performance

APD stock traded down $2.00 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $316.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 146,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,607,942. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company’s fifty day moving average is $295.48 and its 200-day moving average is $272.56. The company has a market capitalization of $70.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.82. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.24 and a 1 year high of $332.42.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.20 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. will post 12.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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; and specialty gases for customers in various industries, including refining, chemical, manufacturing, electronics, energy production, medical, food, and metals.