Zacks Research Brokers Raise Earnings Estimates for AIT

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) – Research analysts at Zacks Research boosted their Q2 2026 EPS estimates for shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research note issued on Wednesday, February 19th. Zacks Research analyst S. Roy now anticipates that the industrial products company will post earnings per share of $2.56 for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $2.54. The consensus estimate for Applied Industrial Technologies’ current full-year earnings is $9.90 per share.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.18. Applied Industrial Technologies had a net margin of 8.62% and a return on equity of 22.37%.

AIT has been the topic of several other reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective (up from $250.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $291.43.

Applied Industrial Technologies Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AIT opened at $245.45 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $9.42 billion, a PE ratio of 24.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $253.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $240.19. Applied Industrial Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $177.68 and a fifty-two week high of $282.98. The company has a quick ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 3.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Institutional Trading of Applied Industrial Technologies

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 5,900.0% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 120 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 106.0% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its position in Applied Industrial Technologies by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 186 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. 93.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Applied Industrial Technologies

In other news, Director Mary Dean Hall sold 2,200 shares of Applied Industrial Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.08, for a total value of $605,176.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $952,326.96. This trade represents a 38.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 4,000 shares of Applied Industrial Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 55,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,689,882.76. This trade represents a 6.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.67% of the company’s stock.

Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. This is a boost from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Applied Industrial Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 18.64%.

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.