A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Sold by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS decreased its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,326 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 788 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $1,727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at $268,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 63.2% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 35,234 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,165,000 after acquiring an additional 13,648 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 10.2% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 15,998 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,437,000 after acquiring an additional 1,477 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 3.9% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302,659 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $206,848,000 after purchasing an additional 87,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 5.6% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 8,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $754,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AOS shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group cut their price objective on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Saturday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Five investment 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at A. O. Smith

In other A. O. Smith news, 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 transaction of $67,356.90. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $583,562.85. This represents a 10.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $27,507.35. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,749 shares in the company, 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 insiders.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE AOS opened at $66.76 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $67.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.16. The company has a market capitalization of $9.61 billion, a PE ratio of 18.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12-month low of $64.55 and a 12-month 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.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.