Short Interest in Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) Grows By 15.7%

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,660,000 shares, an increase of 15.7% from the March 31st total of 2,300,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,850,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Air Products and Chemicals

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 167.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,921,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,894,973,000 after purchasing an additional 4,330,471 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,302,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,502,717,000 after purchasing an additional 235,037 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Air Products and Chemicals by 1.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,829,919 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,085,399,000 after acquiring an additional 39,215 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Air Products and Chemicals during the fourth quarter worth $852,288,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Air Products and Chemicals by 8.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,099,419 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $508,626,000 after acquiring an additional 167,800 shares in the last quarter. 81.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on APD. StockNews.com raised shares of Air Products and Chemicals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Air Products and Chemicals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $260.00 to $245.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Argus downgraded shares of Air Products and Chemicals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $307.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $276.36.

Air Products and Chemicals Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE APD opened at $236.34 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.81. Air Products and Chemicals has a 52-week low of $212.24 and a 52-week high of $307.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $237.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $254.67. The stock has a market cap of $52.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.81.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last announced 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. Air Products and Chemicals had a net margin of 18.82% and a return on equity of 16.84%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.74 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Air Products and Chemicals will post 12.38 EPS for the current year.

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.