Heartland Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS

Heartland Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) by 7.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 130,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 10,833 shares during the quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $8,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AOS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in A. O. Smith by 19.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 939,302 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $61,393,000 after purchasing an additional 154,201 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 78.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 963 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the second quarter valued at approximately $5,212,000. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 11.4% during the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 211,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $13,847,000 after buying an additional 21,657 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 165.3% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 32,874 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,156,000 after acquiring an additional 20,485 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AOS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $61.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $74.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price objective on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $70.00 target price on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $69.33.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $58.92 on Friday. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 12 month low of $54.16 and a 12 month high of $81.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.93.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $945.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $974.06 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.42% and a net margin of 13.84%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.600-3.900 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is presently 38.30%.

A. O. Smith Profile

A. O. Smith Corporation, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a leading manufacturer of water heating and water treatment products for residential and commercial applications. Since its founding in 1874, the company has built a reputation for producing reliable, energy-efficient water heaters, boilers and pressure vessels. Its product portfolio encompasses gas, electric, condensing and tankless water heaters, as well as specialty boilers designed to meet a variety of building and industrial needs.

The company operates through two primary segments: North America and Asia.