8,847 Shares of A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS Acquired by StoneRidge PMG Advisors LLC

StoneRidge PMG Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,847 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 10.4% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,168,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $143,017,000 after buying an additional 203,846 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,959,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $129,202,000 after acquiring an additional 64,873 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,425,759 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,014,000 after acquiring an additional 42,702 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $92,005,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,346,863 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $88,812,000 after acquiring an additional 5,175 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on AOS. Citigroup lifted their price target on A. O. Smith from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Longbow Research downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 19th. Weiss Ratings raised A. O. Smith from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective (down from $75.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $59.00 target price on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $66.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kevin Wheeler sold 14,675 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.64, for a total transaction of $963,267.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 128,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,424,762.72. This represents a 10.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:AOS opened at $64.58 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.40. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 12-month low of $54.16 and a 12-month high of $81.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.03.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.03. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 27.66% and a net margin of 13.01%. The firm had revenue of $940.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $960.20 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This is a positive change from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.34%.

A. O. Smith Profile