A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Sold by Mather Group LLC.

Mather Group LLC. trimmed its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 98.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,755 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 171,815 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AOS. Norges Bank purchased a new position in A. O. Smith in the 4th quarter valued at $108,176,000. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 71.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,173,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,716,000 after purchasing an additional 487,742 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,257,799 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $103,693,000 after acquiring an additional 317,389 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in A. O. Smith in the 2nd quarter valued at $22,288,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 623,357 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $51,390,000 after buying an additional 168,911 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at A. O. Smith

In related news, Director Ronald D. Brown 3,631 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AOS traded up $0.84 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $82.50. The stock had a trading volume of 330,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 960,953. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12 month low of $64.14 and a 12 month high of $92.44. The company has a market cap of $12.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.16, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.01). A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.67% and a return on equity of 31.04%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is currently 33.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com cut A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group lifted their price target on A. O. Smith from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $97.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.67.

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.