Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.46 Per Share

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 0.46 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. This is a boost from Applied Industrial Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37.

Applied Industrial Technologies has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Applied Industrial Technologies has a payout ratio of 13.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Applied Industrial Technologies to earn $10.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.0%.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE AIT opened at $254.88 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 3.78, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $257.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $232.80. Applied Industrial Technologies has a 1 year low of $176.32 and a 1 year high of $282.98.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.18. Applied Industrial Technologies had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 22.68%. As a group, research analysts expect that Applied Industrial Technologies will post 9.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James raised 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 note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America raised shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $285.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Industrial Technologies has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Industrial Technologies

In other Applied Industrial Technologies news, Director Mary Dean Hall sold 2,200 shares of Applied Industrial Technologies stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $952,326.96. The trade was a 38.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Warren E. Hoffner III sold 4,000 shares of Applied Industrial Technologies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.64, for a total transaction of $1,126,560.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 55,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,689,882.76. This represents a 6.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.67% of the company’s stock.

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.