Applied Industrial sees shorts retreat as stock rallies 11% in past month. Cost to borrow remains subdued near 0.51%, while analysts maintain bullish stance.
Short interest in AIT stood at 711,863 shares as of April 23, representing 1.89% of free float. That's down 27% over the past month from 973,151 shares on March 23. The week-over-week decline was modest at 0.64%. Days to cover sits at 2.25 based on the latest FINRA data. Cost to borrow inched up 8.6% over the past week to 0.51%, though it remains 30% higher than a month ago. Utilization is minimal at 0.16%, far below the 52-week peak of 8.19%.
The put/call ratio registered 0.54 on April 24, slightly below the 20-day mean of 0.54. The z-score of -0.32 indicates muted bearish positioning relative to recent norms. PCR remains well within the 52-week range of 0.10 to 0.82, suggesting balanced options sentiment heading into the print.
Wall Street maintains a buy consensus on Applied Industrial with 5 buy ratings. The mean price target of $305 implies 4% upside from the current $293.35 close. Keybanc's Ken Newman raised his target to $330 from $300 on February 26, reiterating Overweight. B of A Securities lifted its target to $290 in August, while Oppenheimer and Baird both moved to $300. Raymond James downgraded to Market Perform in August, removing its price target. Benzinga's bull case highlights AIT's focus on improving gross margins through favorable product and customer mix shifts, supporting above-average EPS growth. The bear case warns of market share risks as customers shift to web-based ordering and direct shipment models.
AIT trades at 26.9x trailing earnings, up 2.4 points over the past 30 days. The price-to-book multiple of 5.72 has expanded 0.52 points in the same period. EV/EBITDA sits at 18.4x, up modestly by 0.15 points month-over-month. The stock scores at the 66th percentile on EPS surprise and ranks 98th percentile on dividend score.
Insiders sold $10.8 million net over the past 90 days, with President/CEO Neil Schrimsher unloading shares in early February near $287. Independent Chairman Peter Wallace sold $1.4 million in late February. BlackRock increased its stake by 72,000 shares to 3.75 million as of March 31, representing 10.1% of shares out. Capital Research added 206,000 shares in Q4.
The company last reported on January 27. Prior prints occurred January 30, 2026, and quarterly throughout 2025. The stock is up 11% over the past month and 0.8% over the past week.
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