A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Sold by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. trimmed its stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 7.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,056 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,203 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $1,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 37.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 185,768 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,409,000 after purchasing an additional 50,798 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 65.3% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 4,649 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $380,000 after acquiring an additional 1,836 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 0.3% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,000,835 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,848,000 after purchasing an additional 2,545 shares in the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 0.7% in the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 377,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,869,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 28.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 69,669 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,697,000 after purchasing an additional 15,258 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total value of $1,191,105.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,399 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,319. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $90.59 on Friday. A. O. Smith Co. has a one year low of $64.86 and a one year high of $92.44. The company has a 50-day moving average of $82.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $13.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.15.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.01). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 31.04% and a net margin of 14.67%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AOS. Stifel Nicolaus raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $97.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.67.

A. O. Smith Company Profile

A. O. Smith Corporation manufactures and markets residential and commercial gas and electric water heaters, boilers, heat pumps, tanks, and water treatment products in North America, China, Europe, and India. The company offers water heaters for residences, restaurants, hotels, office buildings, laundries, car washes, and small businesses; boilers for hospitals, schools, hotels, and other large commercial buildings, as well as homes, apartments, and condominiums; and water treatment products comprising point-of-entry water softeners, well water solutions, and whole-home water filtration products, and point-of-use carbon and reverse osmosis products for residences, restaurants, hotels, and offices.