A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) SVP Douglas Samuel Karge Sells 419 Shares

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $27,507.35. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,471.85. The trade was a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 1.0 %

A. O. Smith stock opened at $65.30 on Thursday. A. O. Smith Co. has a fifty-two week low of $64.55 and a fifty-two week high of $92.44. The stock has a market cap of $9.47 billion, a PE ratio of 17.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.55.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. Research analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is 37.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AOS shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Saturday, February 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.86.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bryce Point Capital LLC bought a new stake in A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter worth about $472,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter worth about $201,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in A. O. Smith by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,698,517 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $251,751,000 after acquiring an additional 111,612 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG raised its position in A. O. Smith by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 23,145 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,579,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Financial LLC raised its position in A. O. Smith by 83.4% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 4,487 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 2,041 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

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.