Tidal Investments LLC Purchases 7,775 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 55.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 7,775 shares during the quarter. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $1,482,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 59,654 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,069,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC bought a new stake in A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter worth $209,000. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in A. O. Smith by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,645 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $590,000 after buying an additional 817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,648,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $112,467,000 after buying an additional 471,990 shares during the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AOS shares. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Saturday, May 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of AOS stock opened at $67.01 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.46, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $65.85 and a 200 day moving average of $68.30. A. O. Smith Co. has a 52 week low of $58.83 and a 52 week high of $92.45. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 28.87%. The firm had revenue of $963.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $950.56 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.99%.

About A. O. Smith

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.