A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Sold by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. decreased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 15.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,508 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,941 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $1,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AOS. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 12.4% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $491,000 after buying an additional 822 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 17,257 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 393.1% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 858 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 697,543 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 47.7% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 21,776 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,440,000 after purchasing an additional 7,033 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $87.00 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.73. 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 capitalization of $12.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.51, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $988.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $985.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. A. O. Smith’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 4.1 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on AOS. StockNews.com cut A. O. Smith from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Citigroup upped their price target on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $88.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ajita G. Rajendra sold 60,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.51, for a total transaction of $5,092,403.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 56,951 shares in the company, valued at $4,812,929.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other A. O. Smith news, Director Ajita G. Rajendra sold 60,258 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 56,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,812,929.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.63, for a total transaction of $836,990.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 9,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,176.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 95,631 shares of company stock valued at $8,042,535. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.