Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) Price Target Raised to $305.00

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) had its price target boosted by Oppenheimer from $260.00 to $305.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on AIT. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $285.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Industrial Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.86.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of AIT opened at $266.73 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 3.78. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $230.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $208.23. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 52 week low of $155.47 and a 52 week high of $276.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Applied Industrial Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s payout ratio is 15.10%.

Insider Transactions at Applied Industrial Technologies

In other Applied Industrial Technologies news, VP Kurt W. Loring sold 4,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.10, for a total value of $986,659.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 19,315 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,922,876.50. This trade represents a 20.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Industrial Technologies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AIT. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies during the second quarter worth $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies during the second quarter valued at $32,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 106.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

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.