SRN Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

SRN Advisors LLC cut its holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,674 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 432 shares during the quarter. SRN Advisors LLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at about $78,766,000. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $315,055,000 after acquiring an additional 400,304 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $22,288,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in A. O. Smith during the third quarter worth $24,060,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 100,431.5% during the second quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 162,861 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,319,000 after purchasing an additional 162,699 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AOS shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. UBS Group upgraded A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday. 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of AOS opened at $76.87 on Friday. A. O. Smith Co. has a fifty-two week low of $65.20 and a fifty-two week high of $92.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $82.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a market capitalization of $11.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.15.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.36 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total value of $1,191,105.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,399 shares in the company, valued at $194,319. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.