Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Buys 8,527 Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 218.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,436 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,527 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $2,457,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AIT. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 978.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 559,649 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,646,000 after acquiring an additional 507,750 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $72,436,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 176.2% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 309,700 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $61,181,000 after purchasing an additional 197,552 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,093,000. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,043,000. 93.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Applied Industrial Technologies news, VP Jason W. Vasquez sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.71, for a total transaction of $127,861.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,516,461.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AIT. Northcoast Research began coverage on Applied Industrial Technologies in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. KeyCorp upped their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on Applied Industrial Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $235.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.00.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:AIT traded up $2.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $209.48. 201,087 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 308,386. The stock has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a PE ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 3.77 and a quick ratio of 2.70. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $138.38 and a twelve month high of $212.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $193.20 and a 200 day moving average of $188.23.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 23.69% and a net margin of 8.36%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.38 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 15.51%.

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.