Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 26,404 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies were worth $4,560,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Industrial Technologies by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,625,565 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $251,329,000 after buying an additional 451,876 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 750,914 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $116,099,000 after purchasing an additional 98,144 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 625,452 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $108,009,000 after purchasing an additional 32,282 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 30.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 547,945 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,718,000 after purchasing an additional 128,629 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Industrial Technologies by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 508,880 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $87,879,000 after purchasing an additional 83,585 shares during the last quarter. 93.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AIT. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Applied Industrial Technologies from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer began coverage on Applied Industrial Technologies in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $235.00 target price for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.00.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of AIT stock opened at $186.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.19 billion, a PE ratio of 19.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.08. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.24 and a 52-week high of $201.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $190.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.59, a current ratio of 3.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. Applied Industrial Technologies had a return on equity of 24.59% and a net margin of 8.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Applied Industrial Technologies

In other Applied Industrial Technologies news, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.34, for a total transaction of $364,680.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 57,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,421,642.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.