Granite Investment Partners LLC Sells 576 Shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Granite Investment Partners LLC lessened its position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 1.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,980 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 576 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $6,010,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in the second quarter worth $26,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Applied Industrial Technologies in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, ZRC Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Industrial Technologies in the 1st quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AIT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Applied Industrial Technologies from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Northcoast Research started coverage on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.00.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of AIT stock opened at $218.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.93, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 3.53. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.59 and a 52 week high of $224.36. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $204.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.38.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.19 billion. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 23.55% and a net margin of 8.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.35 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. Applied Industrial Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 15.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Kurt W. Loring sold 3,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.02, for a total transaction of $703,561.32. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,037,221.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Applied Industrial Technologies news, VP Kurt W. Loring sold 3,366 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.02, for a total transaction of $703,561.32. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 19,315 shares in the company, valued at $4,037,221.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Neil A. Schrimsher sold 3,703 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.24, for a total transaction of $748,894.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 205,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,602,385.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,927 shares of company stock worth $2,439,116 in the last quarter. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.