Pacer Advisors Inc. Has $825,000 Stock Holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 21.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,008 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,772 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $825,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 2.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,804,868 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $427,740,000 after buying an additional 225,462 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased 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 purchasing an additional 88,025 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased 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 purchasing an additional 133,339 shares during the period. Robeco Schweiz AG increased its position in A. O. Smith by 16.8% in the first quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 2,296,046 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $146,694,000 after purchasing an additional 329,539 shares during the period. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its position in A. O. Smith by 20.5% in the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 2,120,008 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $146,599,000 after purchasing an additional 360,409 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Northcoast Research upgraded A. O. Smith from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. StockNews.com lowered 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 A. O. Smith from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on A. O. Smith from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.63, for a total transaction of $836,990.70. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 9,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,176.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.63, for a total transaction of $836,990.70. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 9,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,176.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Idelle K. Wolf sold 814 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $65,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 46,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,691,200. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 95,631 shares of company stock worth $8,042,535 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $88.63 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1 year low of $63.40 and a 1 year high of $89.96. The stock has a market cap of $13.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $83.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.57.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.01. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 14.45%. The firm had revenue of $988.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $985.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 30th. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.59%.

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.