A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Purchased by MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB

MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 213,252 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,891 shares during the quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $14,546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AOS. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 7,531 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 1,082 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 75,281 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 2,986 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 329,436 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $22,471,000 after buying an additional 61,602 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter worth approximately $123,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AOS shares. DA Davidson cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer raised A. O. Smith from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.14.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $71.87 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.67. A. O. Smith Co. has a fifty-two week low of $67.17 and a fifty-two week high of $92.44. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.24. The company has a market capitalization of $10.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.18.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. The company had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.36 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is currently 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.