SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Purchases New Stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 7,130 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $486,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the third quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 19.8% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 812 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the third quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,471.85. The trade was a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $67,356.90. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $583,562.85. This trade represents a 10.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AOS shares. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.86.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 1.2 %

AOS stock opened at $65.61 on Wednesday. A. O. Smith Co. has a twelve month low of $64.55 and a twelve month high of $92.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $9.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.08, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.65.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

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

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.