Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (AIT) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 14th

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 0.46 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37.

Applied Industrial Technologies has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 16 consecutive years. Applied Industrial Technologies has a dividend payout ratio of 17.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Applied Industrial Technologies to earn $10.76 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.1%.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Performance

AIT opened at $262.44 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 3.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $255.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $236.28. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 52-week low of $177.68 and a 52-week high of $282.98.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Industrial Technologies will post 9.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Applied Industrial Technologies

In other Applied Industrial Technologies news, Director Mary Dean Hall sold 2,200 shares of Applied Industrial Technologies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.08, for a total transaction of $605,176.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $952,326.96. The trade was a 38.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.64, for a total transaction of $1,126,560.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 55,709 shares of the company’s stock, 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. 1.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on AIT. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective (up from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $291.43.

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.