Sheets Smith Wealth Management Acquires 226 Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,065 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 38.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,625,565 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $251,329,000 after acquiring an additional 451,876 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 96.0% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 425,295 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $65,755,000 after buying an additional 208,315 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 30.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 547,945 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,718,000 after buying an additional 128,629 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 70.7% in the 3rd quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 241,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,094,000 after acquiring an additional 100,100 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 750,914 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $116,099,000 after acquiring an additional 98,144 shares during the last quarter. 93.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AIT shares. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Applied Industrial Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $235.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp raised their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Industrial Technologies presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.00.

Applied Industrial Technologies Price Performance

Shares of AIT traded up $3.78 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $189.76. 90,661 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 334,159. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 2.70 and a current ratio of 3.77. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.24 and a 1-year high of $201.76. The stock has a market cap of $7.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $189.50 and a 200-day moving average of $176.49.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.08. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 23.69% and a net margin of 8.36%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.38 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.51%.

Applied Industrial Technologies 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.