Royce & Associates LP Sells 46,072 Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Royce & Associates LP trimmed its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT - Free Report) by 40.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 68,517 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 46,072 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.18% of Applied Industrial Technologies worth $15,440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AIT. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in 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 valued at $1,069,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 8,322 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,993,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 87,629 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $20,985,000 after buying an additional 3,270 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the fourth quarter worth $2,179,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 31,328 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $7,723,000 after acquiring an additional 5,980 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.52% of the company's stock.

Applied Industrial Technologies Price Performance

AIT traded up $3.78 during trading on Friday, hitting $271.85. 201,883 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 669,790. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $10.35 billion, a PE ratio of 27.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.91. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $238.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $238.77. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $188.71 and a 1 year high of $282.98.

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

Applied Industrial Technologies announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback 1,500,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Applied Industrial Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Applied Industrial Technologies's payout ratio is 18.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (down previously from $265.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $320.00 to $290.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Applied Industrial Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $285.00.

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.