A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Position Raised by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,991 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 650 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in A. O. Smith by 2.2% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 4,101,386 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $271,225,000 after buying an additional 88,025 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in A. O. Smith by 4.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,038,837 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $200,958,000 after buying an additional 133,339 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in A. O. Smith by 7.7% in the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,577,789 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,339,000 after buying an additional 112,600 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in A. O. Smith by 4.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,343,402 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $88,839,000 after buying an additional 60,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in A. O. Smith by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,276,943 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,444,000 after buying an additional 11,132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, A. O. Smith presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $88.50.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 1.0 %

A. O. Smith stock opened at $87.00 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12 month low of $63.88 and a 12 month high of $89.96. The stock has a market cap of $12.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.25.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.01. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The business had revenue of $988.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $985.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. A. O. Smith’s revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 4.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is presently 34.59%.

Insider Activity at A. O. Smith

In related news, Director Ajita G. Rajendra sold 60,258 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.51, for a total value of $5,092,403.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 56,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,812,929.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Ajita G. Rajendra sold 60,258 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.51, for a total value of $5,092,403.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 56,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,812,929.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ajita G. Rajendra sold 24,669 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.02, for a total transaction of $2,048,020.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 56,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,728,072.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 95,631 shares of company stock valued at $8,042,535. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

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.