Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $291.43.

A number of research analysts recently commented on AIT shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America upgraded Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective (up from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Industrial Technologies

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $129,690,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies during the third quarter worth $84,139,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 199.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 309,617 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $74,145,000 after purchasing an additional 206,220 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter valued at $32,233,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 404,784 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $96,934,000 after buying an additional 134,975 shares during the last quarter. 93.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Industrial Technologies Price Performance

NYSE:AIT opened at $224.90 on Monday. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 12 month low of $177.68 and a 12 month high of $282.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $251.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $243.41. The company has a current ratio of 3.76, a quick ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $8.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. This is an increase from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 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.