A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Acquired by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 392,463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,848 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.27% of A. O. Smith worth $26,770,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AOS. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 4th quarter worth $66,000. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at about $84,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter worth about $123,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter valued at about $201,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AOS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer cut 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Saturday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group reduced 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.4%

AOS stock opened at $68.26 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $9.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.80, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1-year low of $58.83 and a 1-year high of $92.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $65.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.74. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $963.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $950.56 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 28.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. Research analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 37.99%.

A. O. Smith 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.