Short Interest in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Grows By 15.7%

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,870,000 shares, a growth of 15.7% from the September 30th total of 2,480,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days. Approximately 2.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Transactions at A. O. Smith

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total transaction of $1,191,105.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,319. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AOS. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,007 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $164,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in A. O. Smith by 12.5% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,227 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Algebris UK Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 2.3% in the first quarter. Algebris UK Ltd now owns 6,109 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $506,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 2,989 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,618 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AOS. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

AOS opened at $75.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $11.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s fifty day moving average is $82.19 and its 200-day moving average is $83.14. A. O. Smith has a 52-week low of $69.17 and a 52-week high of $92.44. 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 (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $960.36 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

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.