Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Trims Stock Position in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT - Free Report) by 26.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,475 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 4,375 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $2,987,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 156.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 74,109 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $16,537,000 after acquiring an additional 45,224 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,233,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,591,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 126.0% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,396 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 202,050 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $48,540,000 after acquiring an additional 9,667 shares in the last quarter. 93.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on AIT. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America upgraded 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 note on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $291.43.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies stock traded up $5.97 during trading on Friday, hitting $224.90. 528,107 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 289,986. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.55 and a current ratio of 3.76. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $251.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $242.74. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $177.68 and a 52-week high of $282.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.79, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.08.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 EPS 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.9 EPS for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.46 dividend. This is a positive change from Applied Industrial Technologies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Applied Industrial Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.64%.

Applied Industrial Technologies 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.