NewEdge Advisors LLC Has $115,000 Stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

NewEdge Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 63.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,906 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $115,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith during the third quarter worth approximately $1,726,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,231,084 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $83,972,000 after purchasing an additional 12,305 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 27,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,898,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in A. O. Smith by 124.5% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter worth about $7,015,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AOS. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of AOS stock opened at $68.47 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $65.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.24. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12 month low of $58.83 and a 12 month high of $92.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.86, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.26.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $963.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is presently 37.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at A. O. Smith

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $27,507.35. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,471.85. This represents a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $67,356.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $583,562.85. This trade represents a 10.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

About A. O. Smith

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.