BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Grows Stock Holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 57.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 23,235 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,465 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $1,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AOS. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,991,003 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $164,138,000 after buying an additional 75,898 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,973,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $176,589,000 after purchasing an additional 106,329 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,393,519 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $113,962,000 after purchasing an additional 66,933 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in A. O. Smith by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,194,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,708,000 after purchasing an additional 19,890 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 71.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,173,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $96,716,000 after purchasing an additional 487,742 shares during the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at A. O. Smith

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AOS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $97.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.67.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $90.59 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $82.04 and a 200 day moving average of $84.02. A. O. Smith Co. has a 52 week low of $64.86 and a 52 week high of $92.44. The company has a market cap of $13.21 billion, a PE ratio of 23.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

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

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.16%.

About A. O. Smith

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.