Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $291.43.

AIT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $265.00 price target (up from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Institutional Trading of Applied Industrial Technologies

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,938,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $327,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $812,000 after buying an additional 930 shares during the period. US Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $435,000. Finally, GTS Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. GTS Securities LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Applied Industrial Technologies Price Performance

NYSE:AIT opened at $224.90 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.79, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.08. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 1 year low of $177.68 and a 1 year high of $282.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $251.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $243.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.76 and a quick ratio of 2.55.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.18. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 22.37% and a net margin of 8.62%. Equities analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies will post 9.9 EPS for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. This is a boost from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Applied Industrial Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 18.64%.

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.