A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 422,639 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 11,089 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $34,842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $491,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 393.1% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 858 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 684 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 47.7% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 21,776 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,440,000 after buying an additional 7,033 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 2.4% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 55,605 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,677,000 after buying an additional 1,291 shares during the period. Finally, Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 21.7% in the third quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 22,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,486,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at A. O. Smith

In other A. O. Smith news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.63, for a total value of $836,990.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,455 shares in the company, valued at $800,176.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Ajita G. Rajendra sold 60,258 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.51, for a total value of $5,092,403.58. Following the transaction, the director now owns 56,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,812,929.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.63, for a total transaction of $836,990.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 9,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,176.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 95,631 shares of company stock worth $8,042,535 over the last ninety days. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on AOS. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $88.50.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

NYSE AOS opened at $82.85 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.20 billion, a PE ratio of 22.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $85.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.75. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12-month low of $63.88 and a 12-month high of $89.96.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $978.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.91 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The company’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.59%.

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.