3,842 Shares in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Acquired by Millburn Ridgefield LLC DE

Millburn Ridgefield LLC DE purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,842 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AOS. CX Institutional purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith in the 1st quarter worth approximately $113,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 1st quarter valued at about $74,180,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 113,378 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $7,410,000 after acquiring an additional 4,931 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 1st quarter valued at about $208,000. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 6,587 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AOS shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup lowered their target price on A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 0.7%

AOS traded down $0.47 during trading on Friday, hitting $63.78. 2,217,061 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,269,196. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $65.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12-month low of $58.83 and a 12-month high of $92.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.21.

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

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. A. O. Smith's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.99%.

A. O. Smith Company 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.