A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Stake Raised by iA Global Asset Management Inc.

iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 2.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,766 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 733 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $2,434,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AOS. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,644,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 71.3% during the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 6,991 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $576,000 after acquiring an additional 2,911 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 170,567 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,060,000 after acquiring an additional 39,527 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,751 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 1,108 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $281,000. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AOS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $97.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at A. O. Smith

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,319. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 2.0 %

A. O. Smith stock opened at $83.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $82.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.70. A. O. Smith Co. has a 52 week low of $64.14 and a 52 week high of $92.44.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is presently 33.16%.

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.