Brokerages Set Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) Price Target at $291.43

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $291.43.

A number of research firms have weighed in on AIT. 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. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $265.00 price target (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. 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 research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were 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 owns 55,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,689,882.76. This represents a 6.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mary Dean Hall sold 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.08, for a total transaction of $605,176.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,462 shares of the company’s stock, 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Industrial Technologies

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 5,900.0% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 120 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 106.0% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 33.8% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 186 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Applied Industrial Technologies Price Performance

Shares of AIT opened at $245.73 on Thursday. Applied Industrial Technologies has a twelve month low of $177.68 and a twelve month high of $282.98. 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 of $253.76 and a 200 day moving average of $239.52. The company has a market capitalization of $9.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.08.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 22.37% and a net margin of 8.62%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Industrial Technologies will post 9.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. This is a boost from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.64%.

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.