Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Decreases Stake in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lessened its stake in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,518 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 704 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $3,025,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,001,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $718,751,000 after buying an additional 459,302 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,863,708 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $499,893,000 after buying an additional 136,174 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 38.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,625,565 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $251,329,000 after buying an additional 451,876 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,383,105 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $142,156,000 after buying an additional 10,144 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 750,914 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $116,099,000 after buying an additional 98,144 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Industrial Technologies

In other news, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.34, for a total transaction of $364,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 57,155 shares in the company, valued at $10,421,642.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AIT shares. Oppenheimer started 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 boosted their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.00.

Applied Industrial Technologies Price Performance

AIT stock opened at $184.27 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $190.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.24. The stock has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.34, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.08. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.24 and a fifty-two week high of $201.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.59, a current ratio of 3.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 24.59% and a net margin of 8.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This is an increase from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.53%.

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.