A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Sold by Amundi

Amundi trimmed its stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,712,136 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 69,173 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned approximately 1.18% of A. O. Smith worth $116,902,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 23,308 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,590,000 after buying an additional 1,018 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 4,803 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter valued at $9,311,000. Welch & Forbes LLC lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 568,613 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $38,785,000 after buying an additional 2,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 46,793 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,192,000 after buying an additional 1,119 shares during the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AOS. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group reduced their target price on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded A. O. Smith from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $80.86.

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A. O. Smith Price Performance

NYSE AOS traded down $2.48 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $67.13. The company had a trading volume of 1,965,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,449,591. The company has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a PE ratio of 18.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $67.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.18. A. O. Smith Co. has a twelve month low of $64.55 and a twelve month high of $92.44.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. As a group, analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. A. O. Smith's payout ratio is currently 37.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $27,507.35. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,749 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $180,471.85. This trade represents a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $67,356.90. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,889 shares of the company's stock, valued at $583,562.85. This represents a 10.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company's stock.

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.