Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) Short Interest Update

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 541,900 shares, a drop of 5.6% from the October 15th total of 573,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 244,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised Applied Industrial Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on Applied Industrial Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $285.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Industrial Technologies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.86.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE AIT opened at $266.28 on Wednesday. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 1-year low of $155.47 and a 1-year high of $276.97. The company has a market capitalization of $10.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.17, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $231.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $209.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.78 and a quick ratio of 2.74.

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

Applied Industrial Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s payout ratio is 15.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Industrial Technologies news, VP Kurt W. Loring sold 4,858 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.10, for a total transaction of $986,659.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 19,315 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Industrial Technologies

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 3.9% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.9% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,254,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 2.4% during the second quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 2,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $446,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.4% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,394 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,374,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dana Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.7% during the second quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,928,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.