A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Stock Holdings Lowered by Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lowered its stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 96.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,291 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 82,347 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC's holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AOS. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 25,826 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 329,436 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $22,471,000 after purchasing an additional 61,602 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 99.9% in the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,975 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 2,986 shares during the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted 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 valued at $15,828,000 after buying an additional 75,281 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 7,531 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $514,000 after buying an additional 1,082 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AOS has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Saturday, May 10th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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 note on Wednesday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy 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 $76.17.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

A. O. Smith stock traded up $1.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $70.51. 1,536,065 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,162,122. 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 has a fifty day moving average price of $65.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.61. The firm has a market cap of $10.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28. A. O. Smith Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.83 and a fifty-two week high of $92.45.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $963.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $950.56 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 28.87%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business 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 year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. 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.