Bank of America Corp DE Sells 205,796 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Bank of America Corp DE cut its stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 10.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,719,547 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 205,796 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 1.19% of A. O. Smith worth $117,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on AOS. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Saturday. StockNews.com raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer decreased 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AOS opened at $68.26 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.79. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12-month low of $58.83 and a 12-month high of $92.45. The firm has a market cap 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. 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 (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $963.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $950.56 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 28.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

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