Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Buys 365,710 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 92.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 761,410 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 365,710 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned approximately 0.53% of A. O. Smith worth $68,397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Isthmus Partners LLC acquired a new position in A. O. Smith in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 214.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 359 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new stake in A. O. Smith during the third quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on AOS. StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group upgraded A. O. Smith from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson cut A. O. Smith from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 0.5 %

AOS stock traded up $0.39 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $74.49. The stock had a trading volume of 381,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 954,527. The firm has a market cap of $10.80 billion, a PE ratio of 19.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.17. The company's 50-day moving average price is $79.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.41. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12-month low of $70.73 and a 12-month high of $92.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.82. The business had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $960.36 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 30.09%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a $0.34 dividend. This is a boost from A. O. Smith's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. A. O. Smith's dividend payout ratio is 35.79%.

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.