PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Sells 353 Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 353 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $3,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,156 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,672,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 203 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 382 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,206 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,924 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $429,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. 93.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of AIT opened at $218.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 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. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $251.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $242.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.76 and a quick ratio of 2.55.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share 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 expect that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.46 dividend. This is a positive change from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. 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 note on Tuesday, November 26th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $265.00 price target (up from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $291.43.

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.