D Orazio & Associates Inc. Makes New $215,000 Investment in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

D Orazio & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 899 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 156.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 74,109 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,537,000 after purchasing an additional 45,224 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,233,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,279,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies during the third quarter worth $3,591,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 126.0% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,396 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,451 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on AIT shares. 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 report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com lowered Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on Applied Industrial Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $285.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Industrial Technologies presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $291.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 55,709 shares in the company, valued at $15,689,882.76. This represents a 6.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mary Dean Hall sold 2,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $952,326.96. The trade was a 38.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.67% of the company’s stock.

Applied Industrial Technologies Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of AIT opened at $262.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.76 and a quick ratio of 2.55. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $255.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $235.11. The stock has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.08. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $177.68 and a 1-year high of $282.98.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This is a boost from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.99%.

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.