Barclays PLC Grows Position in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 156.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,109 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,224 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned about 0.19% of Applied Industrial Technologies worth $16,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pier Capital LLC lifted its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.8% during the third quarter. Pier Capital LLC now owns 57,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,798,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 96.7% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 4,035 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $900,000 after buying an additional 1,984 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth $84,139,000. 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 worth $321,542,000 after acquiring an additional 34,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 9.2% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 29,694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,626,000 after acquiring an additional 2,513 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Industrial Technologies

In other news, Director Mary Dean Hall sold 2,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.08, for a total transaction of $605,176.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $952,326.96. The trade was a 38.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.64, for a total value of $1,126,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 55,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,689,882.76. The trade was a 6.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AIT. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.71.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE:AIT opened at $262.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 3.78. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.50 and a fifty-two week high of $282.98. The firm has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a PE ratio of 26.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $253.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $219.12.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.25 by $0.11. Applied Industrial Technologies had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 22.68%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.10%.

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.