Bank of America Upgrades Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) to Buy

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) was upgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $315.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $285.00. Bank of America‘s target price points to a potential upside of 15.07% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on AIT. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Applied Industrial Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Industrial Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.57.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Performance

AIT stock opened at $273.74 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $241.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.82. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 1 year low of $155.47 and a 1 year high of $282.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 3.78.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Industrial Technologies news, VP Kurt W. Loring sold 4,858 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.10, for a total value of $986,659.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies in the third quarter worth about $84,139,000. Dundas Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the second quarter worth about $46,805,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,233,000. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 456.3% during the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 130,895 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,207,000 after acquiring an additional 107,365 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $213,590,000. 93.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.