Toronto Dominion Bank Purchases 4,469 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 63,845 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,469 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank's holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $4,355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AOS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,117,943 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $962,985,000 after acquiring an additional 148,432 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 26.8% during the 4th 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. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,698,517 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $251,751,000 after acquiring an additional 111,612 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,618,191 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $178,587,000 after buying an additional 417,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,444,338 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $166,728,000 after buying an additional 236,880 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AOS. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup cut their price target on A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Saturday. UBS Group cut their price target on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 1.9%

AOS stock traded up $1.29 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $68.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 712,554 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,173,773. The company has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a PE ratio of 18.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12 month low of $58.83 and a 12 month high of $92.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm's 50-day moving average is $65.84 and its 200-day moving average is $68.19.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $963.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $950.56 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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 issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. A. O. Smith's payout ratio is 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.