Sovran Advisors LLC Invests $663,000 in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,618 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 382 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,924 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $429,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 7.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 68.1% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 190 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.64, for a total value of $1,126,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 55,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,689,882.76. The trade was a 6.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Dean Hall sold 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.08, for a total value of $605,176.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,462 shares in the company, valued at $952,326.96. This trade represents a 38.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE AIT opened at $262.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.59, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.08. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $177.68 and a 1 year high of $282.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.55 and a current ratio of 3.76. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $255.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $236.28.

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, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. This is an increase from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 14.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AIT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America raised shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective 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. KeyCorp upped their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $291.43.

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.