Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.46

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 0.46 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Applied Industrial Technologies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.37.

Applied Industrial Technologies has raised its dividend by an average of 3.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Applied Industrial Technologies has a dividend payout ratio of 13.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Applied Industrial Technologies to earn $10.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.0%.

Applied Industrial Technologies Trading Down 1.3 %

Applied Industrial Technologies stock traded down $3.38 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $260.24. The company had a trading volume of 626,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 309,644. 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 cap of $10.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $257.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $233.74. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 1 year low of $176.32 and a 1 year high of $282.98.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.18. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 22.67% and a net margin of 8.62%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Industrial Technologies will post 9.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on AIT. Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and set a $265.00 price target (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America raised shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $285.00 price target for the company. 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 note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $291.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.64, for a total transaction of $1,126,560.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 55,709 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,689,882.76. This represents a 6.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mary Dean Hall sold 2,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.08, for a total value of $605,176.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,462 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $952,326.96. This represents a 38.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.67% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.