A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Stake Increased by Czech National Bank

Czech National Bank grew its holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 6.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,436 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,419 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $2,195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 11.6% in the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $315,055,000 after purchasing an additional 400,304 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.7% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,046,798 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $167,387,000 after purchasing an additional 72,856 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,991,003 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $164,138,000 after acquiring an additional 75,898 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 5.0% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,393,519 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $113,962,000 after acquiring an additional 66,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,194,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,708,000 after acquiring an additional 19,890 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AOS has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price 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, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $97.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.67.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 6.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AOS opened at $80.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $11.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $82.73 and its 200-day moving average is $83.99. A. O. Smith Co. has a 52-week low of $65.08 and a 52-week high of $92.44. 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 (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.01). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 31.04% and a net margin of 14.67%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,399 shares in the company, valued at $194,319. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 2.70% 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.