A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Sold by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC decreased its position in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 89,141 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 7,494 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned 0.06% of A. O. Smith worth $6,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at $55,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter valued at $82,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in A. O. Smith in the 4th quarter valued at about $123,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AOS. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Saturday. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on 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 dropped their target price on A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $80.86.

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A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.9 %

AOS stock traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $67.33. 984,915 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,026,848. The company has a market capitalization of $9.69 billion, a PE ratio of 18.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. A. O. Smith Co. has a twelve month low of $64.55 and a twelve month high of $92.45.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 EPS 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. A. O. Smith's payout ratio is 37.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $27,507.35. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,749 shares of the company's stock, valued at $180,471.85. This trade represents a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,889 shares of the company's stock, valued at $583,562.85. This trade represents a 10.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.