Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 83,495 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 7.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,137,184 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 83,495 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.78% of A. O. Smith worth $102,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in A. O. Smith by 222.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 25,255 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,259,000 after acquiring an additional 17,411 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new position in A. O. Smith during the first quarter worth $675,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 5.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,737 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $715,000 after buying an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 2.7% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,967 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $815,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 18.5% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 2,847 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $233,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AOS shares. StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group raised shares of A. O. Smith from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson downgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six 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.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

NYSE AOS traded up $1.47 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $74.08. The company had a trading volume of 514,873 shares, compared to its average volume of 965,844. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.95. A. O. Smith Co. has a fifty-two week low of $70.73 and a fifty-two week high of $92.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market cap of $10.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.16.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. The firm had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $960.36 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast 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. Investors 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. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. A. O. Smith's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.