Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) Short Interest Update

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 616,700 shares, a growth of 10.8% from the November 30th total of 556,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 256,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AIT. StockNews.com cut Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Raymond James upped their price target 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. Bank of America upgraded shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Industrial Technologies presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mary Dean Hall sold 2,200 shares of the business’s 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 4,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the vice president now owns 55,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,689,882.76. This trade represents 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 insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Industrial Technologies

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 2.4% in the third 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,040,389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $232,181,000 after purchasing an additional 40,689 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 569,317 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $127,032,000 after purchasing an additional 3,887 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $84,139,000. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 9.3% during the third quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 277,335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $61,882,000 after buying an additional 23,710 shares during the period. 93.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Applied Industrial Technologies Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE AIT traded up $0.81 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $239.47. 195,230 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 286,257. The firm has a market cap of $9.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.44, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $257.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $224.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.78 and a quick ratio of 2.74. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 12-month low of $163.50 and a 12-month high of $282.98.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.25 by $0.11. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 22.68% and a net margin of 8.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.39 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Industrial Technologies will post 9.76 EPS for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s payout ratio is 15.10%.

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.