Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $285.71.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AIT shares. Bank of America upgraded Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $285.00 target price for the company. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Applied Industrial Technologies Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:AIT opened at $239.47 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $257.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $224.06. The stock has a market cap of $9.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 3.78, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 12 month low of $163.50 and a 12 month high of $282.98.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.25 by $0.11. Applied Industrial Technologies had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 22.68%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.39 earnings per share. Applied Industrial Technologies’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Applied Industrial Technologies will post 9.76 EPS for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.10%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Dean Hall sold 2,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.08, for a total transaction of $605,176.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $952,326.96. The trade was a 38.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 4,000 shares of Applied Industrial Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.64, for a total transaction of $1,126,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 55,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,689,882.76. This trade represents a 6.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.67% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Industrial Technologies

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 18.4% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 18,066 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,505,000 after buying an additional 2,803 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 2,609.1% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148 shares during the period. Convergence Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the second quarter worth approximately $885,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 1.7% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 128,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $24,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 23,530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,565,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Applied Industrial Technologies Company Profile

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc distributes industrial motion, power, control, and automation technology solutions in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. It operates in two segments, Service Center Based Distribution, and Engineered Solutions. The company distributes bearings, power transmission products, engineered fluid power components and systems, specialty flow control solutions, advanced automation products, industrial rubber products, linear motion components, automation solutions, tools, safety products, oilfield supplies, and other industrial and maintenance supplies; and motors, belting, drives, couplings, pumps, hydraulic and pneumatic components, filtration supplies, valves, fittings, process instrumentation, actuators, and hoses, filtration supplies, as well as other related supplies for general operational needs of customers' machinery and equipment.