HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 513 Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 13.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $1,069,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 5,900.0% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 120 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 203 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies during the third quarter valued at about $84,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AIT. 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 report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $325.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $284.29.

Applied Industrial Technologies Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE AIT opened at $233.16 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s fifty day moving average is $247.93 and its 200-day moving average is $244.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.76 and a quick ratio of 2.55. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $177.68 and a one year high of $282.98.

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

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Applied Industrial Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 18.64%.

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.