Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $285.71.

Several research firms have weighed in on AIT. KeyCorp increased their target price 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. Bank of America upgraded Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th.

Applied Industrial Technologies Price Performance

Shares of AIT opened at $260.36 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 1.08. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 1 year low of $173.73 and a 1 year high of $282.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $258.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $231.65. The company has a current ratio of 3.78, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.25 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. Applied Industrial Technologies had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 22.68%. Applied Industrial Technologies’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.39 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Applied Industrial Technologies will post 9.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Applied Industrial Technologies

In other news, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.64, for a total transaction of $1,126,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 55,709 shares in the company, valued at $15,689,882.76. This represents a 6.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Dean Hall sold 2,200 shares of Applied Industrial Technologies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $952,326.96. This represents a 38.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 3,203 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $621,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 37.5% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 13,427 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,605,000 after acquiring an additional 3,665 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 42.6% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 435 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 6,722 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,304,000 after acquiring an additional 608 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 57.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 52,476 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,120,000 after purchasing an additional 19,169 shares during the last quarter. 93.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.