Jones Financial Companies Lllp Grows Holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 192.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 882 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 203 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 382 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,206 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,924 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $429,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, Amalgamated Bank grew its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 17,670 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,231,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. 93.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on AIT. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America raised shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $265.00 price objective (up from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two research 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $291.43.

Applied Industrial Technologies Price Performance

AIT opened at $226.84 on Wednesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $8.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $252.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $243.03. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $177.68 and a 52-week high of $282.98.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.18. Applied Industrial Technologies had a net margin of 8.62% and a return on equity of 22.37%. As a group, analysts predict that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.9 EPS for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost 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.