Bank of America upgraded shares of Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT - Free Report) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Bank of America currently has $315.00 price target on the industrial products company's stock, up from their previous price target of $285.00.
A number of other research firms have also commented on AIT. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer boosted 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. KeyCorp raised their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $278.57.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Applied Industrial Technologies
Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Performance
AIT traded up $2.00 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $280.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 131,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 285,037. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $238.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.80. The company has a current ratio of 3.78, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.79 billion, a PE ratio of 28.43, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.03. Applied Industrial Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $155.47 and a fifty-two week high of $282.32.
Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.25 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 22.68% and a net margin of 8.57%. The company's quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.39 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Industrial Technologies will post 9.76 EPS for the current year.
Applied Industrial Technologies Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Applied Industrial Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.10%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Applied Industrial Technologies news, VP Kurt W. Loring sold 4,858 shares of Applied Industrial Technologies stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.10, for a total transaction of $986,659.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 19,315 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,922,876.50. This trade represents a 20.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.67% of the company's stock.
Institutional Trading of Applied Industrial Technologies
A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AIT. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,441,051 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $321,542,000 after buying an additional 34,113 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 4.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,040,389 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $232,181,000 after acquiring an additional 40,689 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 630,915 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $122,398,000 after purchasing an additional 7,720 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 569,317 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $127,032,000 after buying an additional 3,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $84,139,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.52% of the company's stock.
About Applied Industrial Technologies
(
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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.
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