Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. Grows Stock Holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. increased its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 76.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 412 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 178 shares during the quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A.’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $99,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies in the fourth quarter worth $129,690,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth about $84,139,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,518,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 238,975 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,227,000 after purchasing an additional 58,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter worth about $12,897,000. Institutional investors own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AIT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $325.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $265.00 price objective (up from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.29.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Up 3.1 %

AIT stock opened at $236.62 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $9.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.08. 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’s 50-day moving average is $245.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.85. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $177.68 and a fifty-two week high of $282.98.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This is an increase from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Applied Industrial Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 18.64%.

About Applied Industrial Technologies

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.