American Century Companies Inc. Grows Stock Position in Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. $APD

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) by 10.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,639 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,430 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Air Products and Chemicals were worth $16,258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 31.5% during the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 8,759,722 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,583,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,568 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Air Products and Chemicals by 110.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,441,752 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $425,202,000 after buying an additional 756,780 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Air Products and Chemicals by 13.3% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,794,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,070,356,000 after buying an additional 444,855 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,739,830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,131,936,000 after acquiring an additional 324,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Air Products and Chemicals by 5.1% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,434,228 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,814,839,000 after acquiring an additional 310,799 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on APD shares. Argus upgraded Air Products and Chemicals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $350.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Air Products and Chemicals from $345.00 to $330.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Air Products and Chemicals in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Air Products and Chemicals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Air Products and Chemicals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $313.75.

Air Products and Chemicals Price Performance

APD opened at $257.05 on Wednesday. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $235.55 and a 52-week high of $341.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $258.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $276.60. The company has a market cap of $57.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -144.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.38 by $0.01. Air Products and Chemicals had a negative net margin of 3.28% and a positive return on equity of 15.18%. The business had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Air Products and Chemicals has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.100 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 12.850-13.150 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Air Products and Chemicals Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be given a $1.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $7.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Air Products and Chemicals’s dividend payout ratio is presently -402.25%.

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.