Guinness Asset Management LTD Has $514,000 Position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 16.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,531 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,082 shares during the quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AOS. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 214.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the third quarter worth $32,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at $43,000. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on AOS. DA Davidson downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Saturday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.14.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AOS opened at $71.87 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50-day moving average is $71.23 and its 200 day moving average is $78.24. 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.

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

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. A. O. Smith’s 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.