MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. Raises Stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 139.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,963 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 35,538 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.'s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $4,158,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AOS. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at about $96,180,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $320,880,000 after buying an additional 995,043 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $112,467,000 after buying an additional 471,990 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $178,587,000 after buying an additional 417,595 shares during the period. Finally, Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at about $19,918,000. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded A. O. Smith from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Saturday, May 10th. 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 report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

AOS traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $67.31. The stock had a trading volume of 1,383,863 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,170,537. The company has a market cap of $9.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average of $65.86 and a 200 day moving average of $68.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.55. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1 year low of $58.83 and a 1 year high of $92.45.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $963.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. A. O. Smith's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.