American Century Companies Inc. Buys 3,811 Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,351 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,811 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.08% of Applied Industrial Technologies worth $4,538,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,001,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $718,751,000 after purchasing an additional 459,302 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 2.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,863,708 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $499,893,000 after purchasing an additional 136,174 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position 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 worth $251,329,000 after purchasing an additional 451,876 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,383,105 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $142,156,000 after purchasing an additional 10,144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 15.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 750,914 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $116,099,000 after purchasing an additional 98,144 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, KeyCorp increased their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $182.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Industrial Technologies

In other Applied Industrial Technologies news, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.34, for a total transaction of $364,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 57,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,421,642.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE:AIT opened at $197.88 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.76 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $185.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.36. The company has a current ratio of 3.74, a quick ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.24 and a 12-month high of $201.76.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.13. The business 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.05 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 14th. This is a boost from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.53%.

Applied Industrial Technologies Company 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.