A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Bought by Perpetual Ltd

Perpetual Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 118,624 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 11,128 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $8,091,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 1.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,194,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $97,708,000 after acquiring an additional 19,890 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 27.0% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 32,422 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,651,000 after purchasing an additional 6,900 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 20.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 13,337 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,091,000 after purchasing an additional 2,220 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 26.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 102,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,374,000 after purchasing an additional 21,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,288 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $923,000 after buying an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 1.3 %

A. O. Smith stock opened at $72.72 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.14, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $71.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.12. A. O. Smith Co. has a twelve month low of $67.17 and a twelve month high of $92.44.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82. The company had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.36 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 30.09%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is currently 35.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AOS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup reduced their target price on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. DA Davidson downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Saturday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.14.

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.