A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Purchased by Banque Cantonale Vaudoise

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 768.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,778 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,113 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,991,142 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $164,150,000 after acquiring an additional 76,037 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,577,789 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,339,000 after buying an additional 112,600 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,343,402 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $88,839,000 after buying an additional 60,337 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in A. O. Smith in the 4th quarter valued at about $108,176,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,257,799 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $103,693,000 after acquiring an additional 317,389 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on AOS shares. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.67.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.3 %

AOS opened at $84.14 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $84.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market cap of $12.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.18. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12 month low of $64.14 and a 12 month high of $89.96.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $978.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.91 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.94% and a net margin of 14.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.16%.

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.