Brendel Financial Advisors LLC Reduces Position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Brendel Financial Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 92.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,064 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 36,692 shares during the period. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,721,581 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $693,630,000 after buying an additional 299,766 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 11.6% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $315,055,000 after purchasing an additional 400,304 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,586,905 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $321,348,000 after purchasing an additional 52,593 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302,659 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $206,848,000 after buying an additional 87,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 3.7% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,046,798 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $167,387,000 after buying an additional 72,856 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer upgraded A. O. Smith from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $88.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday. DA Davidson downgraded A. O. Smith from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upgraded A. O. Smith from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of A. O. Smith from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $83.14.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of A. O. Smith stock traded down $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $71.05. 1,143,134 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,152,467. A. O. Smith Co. has a 52-week low of $67.17 and a 52-week high of $92.44. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $71.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.43. The firm has a market cap of $10.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.18. 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 (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.36 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith 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.