Sequent Planning LLC Sells 100 Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Sequent Planning LLC decreased its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,499 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Sequent Planning LLC’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $838,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 2.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,441,051 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $321,542,000 after acquiring an additional 34,113 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 4.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,040,389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $232,181,000 after acquiring an additional 40,689 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 571,275 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $136,803,000 after acquiring an additional 1,958 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies during the third quarter worth about $84,139,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 366,217 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $87,698,000 after acquiring an additional 11,529 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AIT shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of 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 reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $265.00 target price (up from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $325.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.29.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Down 1.6 %

AIT opened at $224.83 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 3.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $248.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $244.28. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $177.68 and a twelve month high of $282.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.78, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

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

Applied Industrial Technologies 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.