Advisor Resource Council Purchases New Position in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Advisor Resource Council bought a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,209 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $691,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,378 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $536,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies during the first quarter worth approximately $781,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 18.0% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 630 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,463 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,069,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.52% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $325.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $320.00 to $290.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price target (down from $265.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $285.00.

Applied Industrial Technologies Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies stock traded up $0.81 on Friday, hitting $226.99. 494,585 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 312,511. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $182.21 and a one year high of $282.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 3.57 and a quick ratio of 2.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $227.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $238.99. The company has a market capitalization of $8.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.93.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.17 billion. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 8.64%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Applied Industrial Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.47%.

Applied Industrial Technologies declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase 1,500,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the industrial products company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.