9,467 Shares in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Bought by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 9,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $850,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AOS. Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at about $78,766,000. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its position in A. O. Smith by 11.6% in the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $315,055,000 after acquiring an additional 400,304 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the third quarter valued at approximately $24,060,000. Distillate Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 100,431.5% during the second quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 162,861 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,319,000 after purchasing an additional 162,699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 69.8% in the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 311,792 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,498,000 after purchasing an additional 128,181 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AOS opened at $74.49 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $10.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.17. A. O. Smith Co. has a twelve month low of $70.73 and a twelve month high of $92.44. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.41.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The firm had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $960.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a positive change from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is 35.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on AOS. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.71.

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.