Retirement Systems of Alabama Raises Holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 92,493 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.24% of Applied Industrial Technologies worth $22,149,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 8.1% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 5,501 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies during the second quarter worth $1,279,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 58.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 844 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $188,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,361 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $750,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter worth $7,540,000. Institutional investors own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AIT. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com lowered Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Industrial Technologies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $291.43.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of AIT stock opened at $267.70 on Friday. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $177.68 and a 12-month high of $282.98. The company has a current ratio of 3.76, a quick ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $256.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $234.88. The company has a market cap of $10.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.08.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.18. Applied Industrial Technologies had a net margin of 8.62% and a return on equity of 22.37%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.87 EPS for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. This is a boost from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.99%.

Insider Transactions at Applied Industrial Technologies

In other Applied Industrial Technologies news, Director Mary Dean Hall sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.08, for a total value of $605,176.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $952,326.96. This trade represents a 38.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.64, for a total transaction of $1,126,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 55,709 shares in the company, valued at $15,689,882.76. The trade was a 6.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.67% of the company’s stock.

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.