Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.31 on February 28th

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 24th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 15th will be given a dividend of 0.31 per share by the industrial products company on Thursday, February 28th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 14th. This is an increase from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30.

Applied Industrial Technologies has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 9 consecutive years. Applied Industrial Technologies has a payout ratio of 26.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Applied Industrial Technologies to earn $5.07 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.5%.

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AIT opened at $57.95 on Wednesday. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 52-week low of $50.56 and a 52-week high of $82.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 2.75 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The firm has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.29.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.06 by ($0.07). Applied Industrial Technologies had a net margin of 4.80% and a return on equity of 20.03%. The business had revenue of $840.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $855.94 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. Applied Industrial Technologies’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AIT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wellington Shields cut Applied Industrial Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “gradually accumulate” rating in a report on Thursday, January 24th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Applied Industrial Technologies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Co reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $60.00 target price (down from $75.00) on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research report on Thursday, December 20th. Finally, KeyCorp raised Applied Industrial Technologies from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. The stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.50.

Applied Industrial Technologies Company Profile

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc distributes industrial products in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. The company offers its products for maintenance, repair, and operational, as well as original equipment manufacturing customers. It operates in two segments, Service Center Based Distribution, and Fluid Power and Flow Control.

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