Vest Financial LLC Purchases 50,825 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Vest Financial LLC increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 6.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 820,150 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 50,825 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC owned about 0.57% of A. O. Smith worth $53,605,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 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 worth $320,880,000 after acquiring an additional 995,043 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 19.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 417,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in A. O. Smith by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,444,338 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $166,728,000 after buying an additional 236,880 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AOS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Four equities research 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of AOS stock traded up $0.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $64.41. 1,316,260 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,247,253. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $65.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.74. The stock has a market cap of $9.15 billion, a PE ratio of 17.74, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $963.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $950.56 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 28.87%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. A. O. Smith's 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.