OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Reduces Stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp trimmed its position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 19.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,510 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 5,544 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp's holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $1,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AOS. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 25,826 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,762,000 after acquiring an additional 1,390 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 329,436 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $22,471,000 after acquiring an additional 61,602 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 99.9% in the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,975 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $408,000 after buying an additional 2,986 shares during the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 232,047 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $15,828,000 after buying an additional 75,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 7,531 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $514,000 after buying an additional 1,082 shares during the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AOS shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup cut their target price on A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of A. O. Smith stock traded down $0.64 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $69.87. 598,258 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,162,349. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.55. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.48. A. O. Smith Co. has a 52-week low of $58.83 and a 52-week high of $92.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.16, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 28.87%. The firm had revenue of $963.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $950.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. A. O. Smith's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.99%.

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.