Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Oppenheimer Analyst Says

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) had its price objective boosted by Oppenheimer from $260.00 to $305.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

AIT has been the topic of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $285.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.86.

Applied Industrial Technologies Trading Down 1.6 %

Applied Industrial Technologies stock opened at $266.73 on Thursday. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 52 week low of $155.47 and a 52 week high of $276.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 3.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $230.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.23.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies will post 9.76 EPS for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Industrial Technologies news, VP Kurt W. Loring sold 3,366 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.02, for a total transaction of $703,561.32. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 19,315 shares in the company, valued at $4,037,221.30. This trade represents a 14.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Industrial Technologies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AIT. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the second quarter worth about $32,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 106.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. 93.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.