Short Interest in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) Expands By 34.1%

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 989,400 shares, a growth of 34.1% from the January 31st total of 738,000 shares. Currently, 2.6% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 299,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Institutional Trading of Applied Industrial Technologies

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,588 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,156 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,672,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position 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 worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 1,038 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 186 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.52% of the company's stock.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AIT traded down $10.87 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $229.43. The company had a trading volume of 618,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 310,777. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.76 and a quick ratio of 2.55. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $253.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $242.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.08. Applied Industrial Technologies has a one year low of $177.68 and a one year high of $282.98.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This is a positive change from Applied Industrial Technologies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Applied Industrial Technologies's payout ratio is presently 18.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AIT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $265.00 price objective (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Bank of America raised shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Industrial Technologies presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $291.43.

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.