Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Reduces Position in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 17.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 243,717 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 50,961 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned approximately 0.63% of Applied Industrial Technologies worth $54,380,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies in the first quarter worth about $593,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,607 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,467,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 38,676 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 2,114 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AIT. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Applied Industrial Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $267.86.

Applied Industrial Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AIT opened at $278.57 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $238.50 and a 200 day moving average of $211.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 3.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $155.47 and a twelve month high of $282.32. The firm has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.43, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.03.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.25 by $0.11. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 22.68% and a net margin of 8.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.39 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 15.10%.

Insider Transactions at Applied Industrial Technologies

In other news, VP Kurt W. Loring sold 4,858 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.10, for a total transaction of $986,659.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,922,876.50. This represents a 20.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.67% of the company’s stock.

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.