Federated Hermes Inc. Has $34,000 Holdings in A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS)

Key Points

• Federated Hermes Inc. drastically reduced its holdings in A. O. Smith Corporation by 99.9%, bringing its stake down to $34,000 by the end of the last quarter.
• A. O. Smith recently reported earnings of $1.07 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations, despite a year-over-year revenue decline of 1.3%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share, reflecting a 1.9% yield, with a payout ratio of 37.88%.

Federated Hermes Inc. cut its stake in A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 99.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 519 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 384,056 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.'s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $34,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 69.9% during the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 491 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 1st quarter valued at $208,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 503.0% during the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 5,282 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 4,406 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 42.4% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 105,960 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $6,926,000 after purchasing an additional 31,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,588 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE AOS opened at $70.55 on Tuesday. A. O. Smith Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $58.83 and a fifty-two 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. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.73. The stock has a market cap of $9.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $997.89 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.42% and a net margin of 13.68%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.06 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. A. O. Smith's payout ratio is presently 37.88%.

Insider Activity at A. O. Smith

In other A. O. Smith news, Chairman Kevin J. Wheeler sold 22,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $1,581,972.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 100,647 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,172,105.22. The trade was a 18.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AOS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $76.00 price objective (up previously from $74.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $77.43.

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.

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