Signaturefd LLC Acquires 371 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 40.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $89,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the third quarter worth $268,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in A. O. Smith by 63.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 35,234 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,165,000 after purchasing an additional 13,648 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 15,998 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,437,000 after purchasing an additional 1,477 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302,659 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $206,848,000 after purchasing an additional 87,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 5.6% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 8,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $754,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AOS shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Saturday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.86.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $66.47 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.31. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1-year low of $64.55 and a 1-year high of $92.45. The company has a market cap of $9.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.31, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is 37.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $27,507.35. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,471.85. This represents a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $67,356.90. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $583,562.85. This represents a 10.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

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.