South Dakota Investment Council Buys 1,300 Shares of A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS

South Dakota Investment Council lifted its stake in A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) by 92.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,700 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $177,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in A. O. Smith during the second quarter valued at $1,045,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 9.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 178,543 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,670,000 after buying an additional 15,769 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 75.8% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 402,039 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,277,000 after purchasing an additional 173,366 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 18.3% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 8,085 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 1,251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 3.3% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,532 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AOS shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on A. O. Smith from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Robert W. Baird set a $76.00 price target on A. O. Smith in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $76.00 price target (up previously from $74.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $80.00 price target on A. O. Smith and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 0.7%

AOS opened at $65.19 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $9.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $70.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 12 month low of $58.83 and a 12 month high of $77.92.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $942.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $946.33 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 13.85%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.700-3.850 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 17th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.81%.

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.