Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc Purchases 768 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 59,511 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 768 shares during the period. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $4,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in A. O. Smith in the 4th quarter valued at about $66,000. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at about $123,000. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AOS. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.4 %

A. O. Smith stock opened at $68.26 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $65.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. A. O. Smith Co. has a twelve month low of $58.83 and a twelve month high of $92.45. The company has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. The business had revenue of $963.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $950.56 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 37.99%.

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.