Man Group plc Boosts Position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Man Group plc increased its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 82.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 151,182 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 68,214 shares during the period. Man Group plc owned about 0.10% of A. O. Smith worth $10,312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Greenleaf Trust increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 5,873 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 34,838 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,376,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 3,454 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $236,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 9,198 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 27,307 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,863,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AOS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Saturday, May 10th. UBS Group cut their price objective on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:AOS traded down $0.36 on Friday, reaching $67.01. 1,270,452 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,175,420. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average of $65.85 and a 200-day moving average of $68.30. A. O. Smith Co. has a 52-week low of $58.83 and a 52-week high of $92.45.

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

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. A. O. Smith's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.99%.

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.