Annex Advisory Services LLC Acquires 75,281 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 48.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 232,047 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 75,281 shares during the quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC owned 0.16% of A. O. Smith worth $15,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AOS. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 99.9% in the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,975 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 2,986 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 329,436 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $22,471,000 after acquiring an additional 61,602 shares during the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $123,000. Czech National Bank raised its position in A. O. Smith by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 25,826 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in A. O. Smith in the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:AOS traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $71.87. The stock had a trading volume of 1,285,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 842,383. The firm has a market cap of $10.42 billion, a PE ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. A. O. Smith Co. has a twelve month low of $67.17 and a twelve month high of $92.44.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The business had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.36 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. A. O. Smith's payout ratio is 35.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AOS. DA Davidson lowered A. O. Smith from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of A. O. Smith from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised A. O. Smith from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $88.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $83.14.

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.