96,361 Shares in A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS Purchased by Trexquant Investment LP

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP acquired 96,361 shares of A. O. Smith Corporation for approximately $6.3 million, marking a small ownership stake of 0.07% in the company.
• A. O. Smith reported a Q2 EPS of $1.07, exceeding the estimate of $0.97, while its revenue decreased by 1.3% year-over-year to $1.01 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share, which results in an annualized dividend yield of 1.9%.

Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 96,361 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $6,298,000. Trexquant Investment LP owned 0.07% of A. O. Smith as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AOS. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 32.1% in the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 29,731 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,943,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221 shares during the last quarter. Eisler Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $409,000. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $445,000. Cadence Bank increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 12,284 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $803,000 after purchasing an additional 1,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 68.0% in the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 4,138 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,675 shares during the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other A. O. Smith news, Chairman Kevin J. Wheeler sold 22,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $1,581,972.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 100,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,172,105.22. This represents a 18.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AOS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $76.00 price objective (up from $74.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Saturday, August 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $77.43.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE AOS traded up $0.98 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $73.62. The company had a trading volume of 1,445,124 shares, compared to its average volume of 978,142. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.43. The stock has a market cap of $10.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.51, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.25. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 52-week low of $58.83 and a 52-week high of $92.06.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $997.89 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.68% and a return on equity of 28.42%. A. O. Smith's quarterly revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.06 EPS. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.700-3.900 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. A. O. Smith's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.88%.

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.