Meeder Asset Management Inc. Has $229,000 Holdings in A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) by 61.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,511 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 5,481 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $229,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AOS. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 122,726 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,371,000 after buying an additional 17,442 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 74,433 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,077,000 after purchasing an additional 5,390 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 72.3% during the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 112,505 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,674,000 after purchasing an additional 47,200 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,180,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AOS shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.43.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

NYSE AOS opened at $71.66 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $66.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.80. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 1 year low of $58.83 and a 1 year high of $92.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.20.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $997.89 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.68% and a return on equity of 28.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.06 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is presently 37.88%.

A. O. Smith 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.