Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Purchases New Holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 148,750 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $10,146,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned about 0.10% of A. O. Smith at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,117,943 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $962,985,000 after buying an additional 148,432 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position 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 valued at $320,880,000 after acquiring an additional 995,043 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,698,517 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $251,751,000 after purchasing an additional 111,612 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 417,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in A. O. Smith by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,444,338 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $166,728,000 after purchasing an additional 236,880 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on AOS. 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 research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.6%

AOS stock traded up $0.37 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $64.37. The company had a trading volume of 1,452,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,236,944. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.85. 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 fifty-two week low of $58.83 and a fifty-two week high of $92.45. The company has a market capitalization of $9.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $963.90 million during 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 revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. 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.