Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Takes $120,000 Position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,759 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AOS. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,180,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,704,295 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $320,880,000 after acquiring an additional 995,043 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,648,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $112,467,000 after acquiring an additional 471,990 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,618,191 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $178,587,000 after acquiring an additional 417,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 133.0% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 547,410 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $37,339,000 after purchasing an additional 312,492 shares during the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:AOS opened at $70.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.55. The company has a market cap of $10.02 billion, a PE ratio of 19.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28. A. O. Smith Co. has a 52 week low of $58.83 and a 52 week high of $92.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.56.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AOS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Saturday, May 10th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.17.

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.