Nomura Holdings Inc. Has $1.71 Million Holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 59.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,122 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,373 shares during the quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc.'s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $1,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 329,436 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $22,471,000 after acquiring an additional 61,602 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 99.9% in the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,975 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $408,000 after buying an additional 2,986 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 48.0% in the 4th quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 232,047 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $15,828,000 after buying an additional 75,281 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 7,531 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $514,000 after purchasing an additional 1,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 213,252 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $14,546,000 after acquiring an additional 1,891 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AOS shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Saturday, May 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 1.3%

NYSE AOS traded down $0.93 on Tuesday, hitting $69.58. 947,618 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,165,492. 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 twelve month low of $58.83 and a twelve month high of $92.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $65.86 and a 200 day moving average of $68.48. The company has a market capitalization of $9.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28.

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

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. 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.