V Square Quantitative Management LLC Has $324,000 Holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,607 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 543 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 13,228 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,780 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $429,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $628,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 30,017 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,696,000 after buying an additional 5,572 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at A. O. Smith

In other news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,399 shares in the company, valued at $194,319. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AOS shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $97.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of 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. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.67.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $78.75 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.40, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.15. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12 month low of $65.08 and a 12 month high of $92.44. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $83.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is a positive change from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

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.