Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on AIT. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.71.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies stock opened at $261.64 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $258.86 and a 200-day moving average of $230.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.78 and a quick ratio of 2.74. The company has a market capitalization of $10.06 billion, a PE ratio of 26.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.08. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 1-year low of $173.73 and a 1-year high of $282.98.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.25 by $0.11. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 22.68% and a net margin of 8.57%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies will post 9.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Industrial Technologies

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AIT. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 8.6% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 3,203 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 4.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 2,756 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $535,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 38.6% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 18,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,550,000 after buying an additional 5,100 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 9.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,734 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,694,000 after buying an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 37.5% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 13,427 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,605,000 after buying an additional 3,665 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

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.