Caprock Group LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AIT. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter worth about $34,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 106.0% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 68.1% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 190 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies during the third quarter valued at approximately $84,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 382 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Applied Industrial Technologies

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 value of $605,176.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $952,326.96. The trade was a 38.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 4,000 shares of the business’s 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 owns 55,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,689,882.76. The trade was a 6.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.67% of the company’s stock.

Applied Industrial Technologies Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies stock opened at $260.33 on Wednesday. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $177.68 and a 1 year high of $282.98. The firm has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a PE ratio of 26.38, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.76 and a quick ratio of 2.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $256.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $234.67.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.18. Applied Industrial Technologies had a net margin of 8.62% and a return on equity of 22.37%. Analysts expect that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. This is a positive change from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 14.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AIT. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $265.00 price objective (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $291.43.

About Applied Industrial Technologies

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.