Brokerages Set Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) Target Price at $285.71

Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $285.71.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AIT. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com lowered Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Loop Capital raised their price objective 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. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target 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.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.64, for a total value of $1,126,560.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 55,709 shares in the company, valued at $15,689,882.76. This trade represents a 6.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mary Dean Hall sold 2,200 shares of the business’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 value of $605,176.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $952,326.96. The trade was a 38.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.67% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Industrial Technologies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,323,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 202,050 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $48,540,000 after buying an additional 9,667 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 933 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 16.8% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 233,655 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,238,000 after buying an additional 29,288 shares in the last quarter. 93.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Applied Industrial Technologies Trading Down 0.5 %

Applied Industrial Technologies stock opened at $248.39 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $258.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $225.64. The company has a market capitalization of $9.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.08. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 52 week low of $163.50 and a 52 week high of $282.98. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 3.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.25 by $0.11. Applied Industrial Technologies had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 22.68%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.39 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Industrial Technologies will post 9.76 EPS for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s payout ratio is 15.10%.

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.