A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Sold by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC cut its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,975 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,028 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,231,084 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,972,000 after purchasing an additional 12,305 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 27,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,898,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings 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. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,015,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 122,726 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,371,000 after purchasing an additional 17,442 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AOS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on 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, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Saturday, May 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

A. O. Smith stock opened at $67.01 on Friday. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12 month low of $58.83 and a 12 month high of $92.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.52 billion, a PE ratio of 18.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. The business had revenue of $963.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $950.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 37.99%.

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.