Sanctuary Advisors LLC Has $274,000 Stock Position in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,040 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $274,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AIT. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter worth approximately $84,139,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter worth approximately $32,233,000. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 456.3% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 130,895 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,207,000 after acquiring an additional 107,365 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter worth approximately $13,034,000. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter valued at approximately $12,897,000. 93.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AIT shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $265.00 price target (up from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $291.43.

Applied Industrial Technologies Trading Down 4.5 %

NYSE AIT opened at $229.43 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.08. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $177.68 and a 52 week high of $282.98. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $253.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $242.09. The company has a quick ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 3.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 EPS 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 analysts expect that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. This is an increase from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 18.64%.

Applied Industrial Technologies 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.