Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) Upgraded at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $315.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $285.00.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on AIT. Raymond James boosted their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Applied Industrial Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $285.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.57.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE AIT opened at $273.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.53 billion, a PE ratio of 27.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 3.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $242.03 and a 200-day moving average of $213.24. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 52-week low of $155.47 and a 52-week high of $282.98.

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

Applied Industrial Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s payout ratio is 15.10%.

Institutional Trading of Applied Industrial Technologies

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AIT. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 233,655 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,238,000 after acquiring an additional 29,288 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 24.9% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,017 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 3.7% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,924 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $429,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,040,389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $232,181,000 after purchasing an additional 40,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vestcor Inc lifted its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 105.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 7,750 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,729,000 after buying an additional 3,979 shares in 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.