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

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 17th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be paid a dividend of 1.77 per share by the basic materials company on Monday, August 12th. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%.

Air Products and Chemicals has raised its dividend payment by an average of 9.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 49 years. Air Products and Chemicals has a dividend payout ratio of 52.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Air Products and Chemicals to earn $13.55 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 52.3%.

Air Products and Chemicals Price Performance

NYSE:APD traded up $1.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $258.54. The stock had a trading volume of 329,350 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,696,453. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $240.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $252.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.31. Air Products and Chemicals has a 12 month low of $212.24 and a 12 month high of $307.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.48 billion, a PE ratio of 23.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.80.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.70 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. Air Products and Chemicals had a return on equity of 16.56% and a net margin of 20.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.74 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Air Products and Chemicals will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on APD. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Air Products and Chemicals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $270.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays cut their price objective on Air Products and Chemicals from $260.00 to $245.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Air Products and Chemicals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $273.77.

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.