New York State Teachers Retirement System Decreases Stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 8.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 102,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 9,785 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $8,368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,644,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 4th quarter valued at $610,000. abrdn plc lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 28,552 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,354,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 961 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,226 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $678,000 after acquiring an additional 795 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $97.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, A. O. Smith currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.67.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $82.54 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $12.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.38, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.15. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1 year low of $64.14 and a 1 year high of $92.44.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.01). A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.67% and a return on equity of 31.04%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 33.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total transaction of $1,191,105.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,319. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.70% of the stock is 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.