Corient Private Wealth LLC Increases Stock Position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 14.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,416 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,972 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC's holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $3,166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 worth $693,630,000 after buying an additional 299,766 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,586,905 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $321,348,000 after purchasing an additional 52,593 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in A. O. Smith by 3.9% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in A. O. Smith by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,648,825 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $112,467,000 after buying an additional 471,990 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,231,084 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $83,972,000 after buying an additional 12,305 shares during the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

AOS has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of A. O. Smith from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup lowered their price target on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Saturday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $80.86.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:AOS traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $67.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 984,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,026,848. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market cap of $9.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $67.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.16. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 EPS for the current 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 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 37.47%.

Insider Activity

In other A. O. Smith news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the business'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 transaction of $67,356.90. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,889 shares in the company, valued at $583,562.85. The trade was a 10.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 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 transaction of $27,507.35. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,749 shares in the company, valued at $180,471.85. The trade was a 13.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company's stock.

About A. O. Smith

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.