Quantbot Technologies LP Acquires New Stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,467 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $850,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in A. O. Smith during the second quarter worth $25,000. Isthmus Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Quarry LP grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in A. O. Smith during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth about $37,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on AOS shares. DA Davidson lowered A. O. Smith from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upgraded A. O. Smith from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded A. O. Smith from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

NYSE:AOS traded up $0.21 on Monday, hitting $74.70. The stock had a trading volume of 496,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 965,319. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $79.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.38. A. O. Smith Co. has a 52-week low of $70.73 and a 52-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 $10.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.17.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 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 prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a boost from A. O. Smith's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. A. O. Smith's dividend payout ratio is 35.79%.

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.