Millennium Management LLC Grows Stock Position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Millennium Management LLC grew its position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 133.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 547,410 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 312,492 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned approximately 0.38% of A. O. Smith worth $37,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AOS. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter valued at about $96,180,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,704,295 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $320,880,000 after acquiring an additional 995,043 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,648,825 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $112,467,000 after acquiring an additional 471,990 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,618,191 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $178,587,000 after acquiring an additional 417,595 shares during the period. Finally, Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter worth about $19,918,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AOS. UBS Group dropped their target price on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup dropped their target price on A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Saturday, May 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

AOS stock traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $67.01. 1,270,452 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,173,079. The company has a market cap 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 stock's 50 day moving average is $65.85 and its 200 day moving average is $68.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.96. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12-month low of $58.83 and a 12-month 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 the consensus estimate of $950.56 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. A. O. Smith's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

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

A. O. Smith 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.