A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS Shares Sold by Boston Trust Walden Corp

Key Points

• Boston Trust Walden cut its A. O. Smith holdings by 16.4% in the third quarter, selling 96,662 shares; it retained 491,337 shares valued at about $27.7 million.
• Analyst views are cautious: MarketBeat’s consensus rating is “Reduce”, with a $66 average price target. Ratings include one Buy, six Holds, and three Sells.
• A. O. Smith beat quarterly EPS estimates ($0.93 versus $0.90), but revenue fell slightly year over year and missed forecasts. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.38 per share from $0.36.

Boston Trust Walden Corp lessened its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 491,337 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 96,662 shares during the quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned approximately 0.36% of A. O. Smith worth $27,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 24.4% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,172 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $143,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,660 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 774.4% during the 2nd quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 2,728 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $171,000 after buying an additional 2,416 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,142 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mufg Securities Americas Inc. boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 3,372 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AOS. Zacks Research downgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded A. O. Smith from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $59.00 target price on A. O. Smith and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, October 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $72.00 target price (down from $75.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $66.00.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $66.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.64. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $59.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.43. A. O. Smith Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $54.16 and a fifty-two week high of $81.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of 18.52, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.03.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.03. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 27.66% and a net margin of 13.01%. The company had revenue of $940.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $960.20 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. This is a positive change from A. O. Smith's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. A. O. Smith's payout ratio is 42.34%.

A. O. Smith Profile

A. O. Smith Corporation is a manufacturer of water heating and water treatment products for residential, commercial and industrial customers. Its portfolio includes gas and electric storage water heaters, tankless water heaters, boilers, heat pump water heaters, water filtration systems, water softeners and reverse-osmosis products.

The company markets products under the A. O. Smith brand and other regional brands, serving applications ranging from homes and apartments to hotels, hospitals, schools, manufacturing facilities and other commercial properties.

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