Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Acquires Shares of 144,457 Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 144,457 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $32,233,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned approximately 0.38% of Applied Industrial Technologies as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of AIT. Dundas Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,805,000. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 456.3% during the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 130,895 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $29,207,000 after purchasing an additional 107,365 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter worth approximately $213,590,000. F M Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies during the 2nd quarter valued at $15,690,000. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at $13,034,000. 93.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Industrial Technologies

In other news, VP Kurt W. Loring sold 4,858 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.10, for a total value of $986,659.80. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 19,315 shares in the company, valued at $3,922,876.50. This represents a 20.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.67% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AIT. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Applied Industrial Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Industrial Technologies currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $267.86.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE AIT traded up $1.45 during trading on Monday, reaching $278.57. 342,113 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 285,729. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $155.47 and a 12-month high of $282.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.78 and a quick ratio of 2.74. The firm has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.03. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $237.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $211.23.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.36 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.39 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Applied Industrial Technologies's dividend payout ratio is presently 15.10%.

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.