Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) Shares Purchased by Larson Financial Group LLC

Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 5,900.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 120 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $29,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AIT. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter valued at approximately $84,139,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,233,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,518,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter valued at approximately $13,034,000. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter valued at approximately $12,897,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AIT. Oppenheimer raised their price objective 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. KeyCorp raised their price objective 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 raised shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report 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, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $265.00 price objective (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $291.43.

Applied Industrial Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AIT opened at $218.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.15, a PEG 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. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $177.68 and a one year high of $282.98. The company’s fifty day moving average is $251.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $242.74.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.18. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 22.37% and a net margin of 8.62%. Analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.46 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. Applied Industrial Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 18.64%.

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.