Geode Capital Management LLC Acquires 52,593 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,586,905 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 52,593 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.47% of A. O. Smith worth $321,348,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp increased its position in A. O. Smith by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,721,581 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $693,630,000 after purchasing an additional 299,766 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $315,055,000 after acquiring an additional 400,304 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302,659 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $206,848,000 after acquiring an additional 87,458 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in A. O. Smith by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,046,798 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $167,387,000 after acquiring an additional 72,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in A. O. Smith by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,393,519 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $113,962,000 after purchasing an additional 66,933 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AOS. StockNews.com lowered shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson downgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.17.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AOS opened at $72.48 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $76.19 and its 200-day moving average is $80.60. A. O. Smith Co. has a twelve month low of $70.73 and a twelve month high of $92.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.16.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. The business had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. This is an increase from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.79%.

A. O. Smith Company 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.