Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) Stock Rating Raised to Strong-Buy at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Monday morning,Zacks reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Air Products and Chemicals from $340.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Air Products and Chemicals in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $342.00 target price on shares of Air Products and Chemicals in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $373.00 price target on shares of Air Products and Chemicals in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Argus boosted their price target on 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Air Products and Chemicals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $334.71.

Air Products and Chemicals Price Performance

Shares of APD opened at $292.42 on Monday. Air Products and Chemicals has a 52 week low of $229.11 and a 52 week high of $314.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $65.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1,329.18, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $293.95 and a 200-day moving average of $293.21.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.34 by $0.13. Air Products and Chemicals had a negative net margin of 0.38% and a positive return on equity of 16.87%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.09 earnings per share. Air Products and Chemicals’s revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Air Products and Chemicals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.390-13.490 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.550-3.650 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Air Products and Chemicals will post 13.46 EPS for the current year.

Air Products and Chemicals Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $1.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $7.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Air Products and Chemicals’s dividend payout ratio is presently -3,290.91%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Nvwm LLC grew its position in Air Products and Chemicals by 229.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 7,435 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 5,177 shares during the period. Covenant Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals by 38.2% in the third quarter. Covenant Asset Management LLC now owns 5,346 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after buying an additional 1,479 shares in the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its position in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 166.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 386,188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $105,983,000 after acquiring an additional 241,214 shares during the period. B.A. Schrock Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Air Products and Chemicals in the 3rd quarter worth about $620,000. Finally, Ashurst Perkins Coie Trust Co boosted its position in Air Products and Chemicals by 132,900.0% during the third quarter. Ashurst Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 17,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,705,000 after purchasing an additional 17,277 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

Air Products and Chemicals Company Profile

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc is a global industrial gases and related equipment company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company supplies atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as process and specialty gases including hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide and syngas.

Air Products serves customers in a range of industries, including refining, chemicals, metals, electronics, manufacturing, food and beverage, healthcare and energy. Its offerings include gases delivered through pipelines, bulk and packaged distribution, and on-site production systems, along with gas-processing equipment and technologies used in applications such as hydrogen production, natural gas liquefaction and carbon capture.

Founded in 1940, Air Products operates across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and other international markets.