A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Sold by Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lowered its position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 67,655 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 5,579 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $5,363,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.2% during the third quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,762 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. PAX Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.7% during the third quarter. PAX Financial Group LLC now owns 10,773 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $712,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 9,478 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $781,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in A. O. Smith by 36.1% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 712 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in A. O. Smith by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 961 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AOS shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on A. O. Smith from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.67.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:AOS opened at $84.78 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average of $86.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.20. A. O. Smith Co. has a 52-week low of $63.88 and a 52-week high of $89.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $978.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.91 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.94% and a return on equity of 30.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 29th. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at A. O. Smith

In other news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the vice president now owns 9,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $800,176.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Ajita G. Rajendra sold 60,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.51, for a total transaction of $5,092,403.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 56,951 shares in the company, valued at $4,812,929.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.63, for a total value of $836,990.70. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 9,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,176.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 94,817 shares of company stock worth $7,977,415 in the last 90 days. 2.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.