Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Increases Stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 7.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,007 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Copperwynd Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 400,304 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 195.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 11,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $968,000 after buying an additional 7,831 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 39,357 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,219,000 after buying an additional 1,621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 98,178 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,029,000 after acquiring an additional 807 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of the business’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,399 shares in the company, valued at $194,319. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AOS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $97.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, A. O. Smith presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.67.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $86.27 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $82.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.07. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1 year low of $65.08 and a 1 year 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. The company has a market capitalization of $12.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.35, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.15.

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

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is currently 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.