Royal Bank of Canada Sells 222,485 Shares of A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS

Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its position in A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 42.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 306,824 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 222,485 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.22% of A. O. Smith worth $20,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AOS. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in A. O. Smith by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 27,307 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,863,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in A. O. Smith by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 738,103 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $50,346,000 after acquiring an additional 132,923 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 392,463 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $26,770,000 after acquiring an additional 55,848 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 107.7% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,606 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 2,907 shares during the period. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 150.2% in the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 55,617 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,794,000 after acquiring an additional 33,387 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AOS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $76.00 price objective (up from $74.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Saturday, August 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $77.43.

Insider Transactions at A. O. Smith

In related news, Chairman Kevin J. Wheeler sold 22,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $1,581,972.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 100,647 shares in the company, valued at $7,172,105.22. This trade represents a 18.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 2.6%

AOS stock traded up $1.89 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $74.38. 1,673,138 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,510,679. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day moving average of $71.03 and a 200-day moving average of $67.56. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 52-week low of $58.83 and a 52-week high of $92.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.65.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $997.89 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.42% and a net margin of 13.68%.A. O. Smith's revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.06 earnings per share. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.700-3.900 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. A. O. Smith's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.88%.

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.