Polaris Capital Management LLC Has $1.68 Million Stock Holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Polaris Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 24.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,300 shares during the quarter. Polaris Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $1,676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 156.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 74,109 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,537,000 after acquiring an additional 45,224 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth $32,233,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,591,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 126.0% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,396 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,451 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 19.4% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 14,612 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,260,000 after acquiring an additional 2,371 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AIT has been the subject of several analyst reports. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Mizuho assumed coverage on Applied Industrial Technologies in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $285.00 price target for the company. Bank of America upgraded Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $291.43.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of AIT opened at $263.76 on Tuesday. 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 moving average of $255.67 and a 200-day moving average of $235.89. The company has a market cap of $10.12 billion, a PE ratio of 26.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.08. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $177.68 and a one year high of $282.98.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.18. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 22.37% and a net margin of 8.62%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The company 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 represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Applied Industrial Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 14.99%.

Insider Transactions at Applied Industrial Technologies

In related news, 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 completion of the sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mary Dean Hall sold 2,200 shares of Applied Industrial Technologies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.08, for a total transaction of $605,176.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $952,326.96. This trade represents a 38.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.67% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.