Select Equity Group L.P. Sells 877,969 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Select Equity Group L.P. lessened its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 20.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,342,818 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 877,969 shares during the quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. owned approximately 2.31% of A. O. Smith worth $228,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 25,826 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 329,436 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $22,471,000 after purchasing an additional 61,602 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 99.9% in the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,975 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 2,986 shares during the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 232,047 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $15,828,000 after purchasing an additional 75,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 7,531 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $514,000 after purchasing an additional 1,082 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AOS opened at $70.51 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $65.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.61. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1-year low of $58.83 and a 1-year high of $92.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28. 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 (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 the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 28.87%. The firm had revenue of $963.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $950.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on AOS shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. 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 research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group cut 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. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Saturday, May 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Four 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.17.

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.