Informed Momentum Co LLC Sells 12,431 Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Key Points

• Informed Momentum Co LLC significantly reduced its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 52.3%, selling 12,431 shares and now owning 11,315 shares valued at $2.55 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Northern Trust Corp and Alyeska Investment Group, have increased their stakes in Applied Industrial Technologies, indicating strong institutional interest.
• Analysts have set a new consensus target price of $285.00 for Applied Industrial Technologies, with eight analysts rating the stock as a "buy."

Informed Momentum Co LLC reduced its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT - Free Report) by 52.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,315 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 12,431 shares during the quarter. Informed Momentum Co LLC's holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $2,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the first quarter worth $67,365,000. Polen Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 14.0% in the first quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 21,160 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,768,000 after buying an additional 2,604 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 13.8% in the first quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 1,480 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 32.3% in the first quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 1,457 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the period. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 2.5% in the first quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 4,403 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $992,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. 93.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AIT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial cut Applied Industrial Technologies from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Applied Industrial Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Industrial Technologies currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $287.86.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Down 6.5%

NYSE AIT traded down $17.66 during trading on Friday, hitting $255.38. 579,391 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 331,132. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $191.31 and a 12 month high of $282.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $251.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $240.26. The company has a current ratio of 3.32, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $9.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.24, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.94.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The industrial products company reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.60 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 8.61%. The business's revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.64 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.9 EPS for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback 1,500,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Applied Industrial Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Applied Industrial Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.47%.

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.