Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 7.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,780 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its position in A. O. Smith by 11.6% during the 2nd 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 buying an additional 400,304 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in A. O. Smith by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,046,798 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $167,387,000 after buying an additional 72,856 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in A. O. Smith by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,393,519 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $113,962,000 after buying an additional 66,933 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in A. O. Smith by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,194,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $97,708,000 after buying an additional 19,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in A. O. Smith by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,075,913 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $87,988,000 after buying an additional 26,794 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AOS. UBS Group upped their target price on A. O. Smith from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $97.00 to $98.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.67.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

A. O. Smith stock opened at $78.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.15. A. O. Smith Co. has a 52 week low of $65.08 and a 52 week high of $92.44. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $82.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.07 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 31.04% and a net margin of 14.67%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.77 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 given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. This is an increase from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was 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 owns 2,399 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,319. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.