D.A. Davidson & CO. Purchases 196 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,765 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $877,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AOS. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the second quarter worth approximately $228,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 222.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 25,255 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,259,000 after acquiring an additional 17,411 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 2nd quarter worth $4,127,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in A. O. Smith in the 1st quarter worth $1,495,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 37.6% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 185,768 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,409,000 after purchasing an additional 50,798 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:AOS opened at $74.49 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.41. A. O. Smith Co. has a one year low of $70.73 and a one year high of $92.44. The firm has a market cap of $10.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.67.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82. The company had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.36 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 30.09%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This is an increase from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is currently 35.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on AOS. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.71.

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.