Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys 13,010 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 4.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 286,735 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,010 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.20% of A. O. Smith worth $25,757,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new position in A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at approximately $78,766,000. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 11.6% in the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $315,055,000 after purchasing an additional 400,304 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter worth about $22,288,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at approximately $24,060,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 100,431.5% in the 2nd quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 162,861 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $13,319,000 after acquiring an additional 162,699 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AOS shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target 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. StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson lowered shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

A. O. Smith stock opened at $72.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.02. A. O. Smith Co. has a one year low of $72.15 and a one year high of $92.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $80.59 and its 200 day moving average is $82.24. The firm has a market cap of $10.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.17.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.82. The company had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $960.36 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 30.09%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.79%.

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.