A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Bought by UniSuper Management Pty Ltd

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 20.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 24,809 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 4,160 shares during the quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $1,692,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. KBC Group NV increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,648,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $112,467,000 after buying an additional 471,990 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 92.4% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 761,410 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $68,397,000 after acquiring an additional 365,710 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,721,581 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $693,630,000 after acquiring an additional 299,766 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 769,325 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $52,476,000 after purchasing an additional 149,113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,117,943 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $962,985,000 after purchasing an additional 148,432 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Saturday, March 22nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, A. O. Smith has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.86.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 2.0 %

AOS stock opened at $65.59 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.92. A. O. Smith Co. has a 52-week low of $64.55 and a 52-week high of $92.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 28.87%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.47%.

Insider Activity

In other A. O. Smith news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $67,356.90. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $27,507.35. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,471.85. This trade represents a 13.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.