Balboa Wealth Partners Acquires New Shares in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Balboa Wealth Partners bought a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 933 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AIT. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 2.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,441,051 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $321,542,000 after buying an additional 34,113 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,040,389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $232,181,000 after purchasing an additional 40,689 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 571,275 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $136,803,000 after purchasing an additional 1,958 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at $84,139,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 366,217 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $87,698,000 after purchasing an additional 11,529 shares during the last quarter. 93.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AIT. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com lowered Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $265.00 price target (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Industrial Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $291.43.

Applied Industrial Technologies Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of AIT stock opened at $218.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.08. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $177.68 and a 1 year high of $282.98. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $251.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $242.74. The company has a current ratio of 3.76, a quick ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last posted 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 net margin of 8.62% and a return on equity of 22.37%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.9 EPS for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.46 dividend. This is a boost from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 18.64%.

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.