Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Increases Stock Position in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 96.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,035 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,984 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $900,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 3.9% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 2,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $446,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.4% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,394 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,374,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.7% during the second quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,928,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 3.2% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,158 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AIT. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Raymond James increased their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Loop Capital upped their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Applied Industrial Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Applied Industrial Technologies Trading Down 2.2 %

NYSE:AIT opened at $262.07 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.05. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $163.50 and a one year high of $282.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 3.78. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $253.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $219.12.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.25 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 22.68% and a net margin of 8.57%. Applied Industrial Technologies’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.39 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.10%.

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.