Norges Bank Acquires Shares of 541,570 Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 541,570 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $129,690,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.41% of Applied Industrial Technologies at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AIT. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at $84,139,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies in the fourth quarter worth about $25,518,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 238,975 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,227,000 after purchasing an additional 58,140 shares during the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $12,897,000. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 156.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 74,109 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,537,000 after purchasing an additional 45,224 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $325.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $265.00 price target (up from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $284.29.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Performance

AIT stock opened at $225.52 on Tuesday. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $177.68 and a 1-year high of $282.98. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $246.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $245.73. The firm has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a PE ratio of 22.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.08. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. This is a positive change from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.