SRN Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

SRN Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,674 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 432 shares during the period. SRN Advisors LLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in A. O. Smith in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Isthmus Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 214.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the third quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AOS shares. UBS Group raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AOS opened at $76.87 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.34. A. O. Smith Co. has a twelve month low of $65.20 and a twelve month high of $92.44. The company has a market capitalization of $11.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The company had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $960.36 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at A. O. Smith

In other news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total transaction of $1,191,105.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,319. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

A. O. Smith Company 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.