A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Stock Holdings Cut by Eagle Bay Advisors LLC

Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS – Get Rating) by 56.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 782 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 997 shares during the quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $38,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,241,194 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $497,519,000 after acquiring an additional 192,593 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,804,868 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $427,740,000 after acquiring an additional 225,462 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 4,001,360 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $194,386,000 after acquiring an additional 70,578 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,000,385 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $191,694,000 after acquiring an additional 227,825 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,702,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $131,279,000 after acquiring an additional 117,131 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.01% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE AOS opened at $67.37 on Friday. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1-year low of $46.58 and a 1-year high of $71.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market capitalization of $10.16 billion, a PE ratio of 44.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.64.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.07. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 6.28% and a return on equity of 27.54%. The business had revenue of $936.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $913.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. A. O. Smith’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 30th. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 80.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. Loop Capital lowered A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $67.00 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on A. O. Smith from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 20th. Citigroup increased their target price on A. O. Smith from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, TheStreet lowered A. O. Smith from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other A. O. Smith news, Director Ajita G. Rajendra sold 39,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.02, for a total transaction of $2,776,882.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,783,699.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other A. O. Smith news, Director Ajita G. Rajendra sold 39,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.02, for a total transaction of $2,776,882.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,783,699.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael M. Larsen bought 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $66.89 per share, for a total transaction of $267,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $764,218.25. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 57,883 shares of company stock valued at $4,053,126 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

A. O. Smith Profile

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A. O. Smith Corp. manufactures residential and commercial gas and electric water heaters, boilers, tanks, and water treatment products. It operates through the North America and Rest of World segments. The North America segment manufactures and markets comprehensive lines of residential and commercial gas and electric water heaters, boilers, and tanks.