A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,530,000 shares, a growth of 8.6% from the January 15th total of 4,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,190,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days. Currently, 3.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $27,507.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,471.85. This represents a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $67,356.90. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $583,562.85. This represents a 10.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 242.8% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 627,282 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,787,000 after buying an additional 444,307 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 924.7% in the 4th quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 57,312 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,909,000 after purchasing an additional 51,719 shares in the last quarter. Sone Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith in the 4th quarter worth $2,705,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 360.0% in the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 343,692 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $23,443,000 after purchasing an additional 268,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Twinbeech Capital LP purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith in the 4th quarter worth $11,433,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AOS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. DA Davidson cut A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group cut their target price on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.86.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:AOS opened at $66.15 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. A. O. Smith has a 12 month low of $64.55 and a 12 month high of $92.44. The company has a market cap of $9.59 billion, a PE ratio of 18.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.74.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. Research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.47%.

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.