StoneRidge PMG Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS

StoneRidge PMG Advisors LLC bought a new position in A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 8,847 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AOS. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 111.1% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,086 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 2,677 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its position in A. O. Smith by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 12,705 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $716,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 118.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 29,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,646,000 after acquiring an additional 15,818 shares during the period. Willis Investment Counsel lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 80,989 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,565,000 after acquiring an additional 4,763 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 6,499 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $64.58 on Monday. A. O. Smith Corporation has a one year low of $54.16 and a one year high of $81.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $59.27 and its 200 day moving average is $63.40. The stock has a market cap of $8.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.64.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.03. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 27.66% and a net margin of 13.01%. The company had revenue of $940.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.20 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. A. O. Smith’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. This is an increase from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is presently 42.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kevin Wheeler sold 14,675 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.64, for a total transaction of $963,267.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 128,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,424,762.72. The trade was a 10.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AOS. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price (down from $75.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Zacks Research cut A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, Longbow Research downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $66.00.

A. O. Smith Profile