A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Stake Increased by Copperwynd Financial LLC

Copperwynd Financial LLC boosted its stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,959 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. Copperwynd Financial LLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $252,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 11.6% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $315,055,000 after purchasing an additional 400,304 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 33.8% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,257,799 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $103,693,000 after acquiring an additional 317,389 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $22,288,000. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 623,357 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,390,000 after purchasing an additional 168,911 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 100,431.5% in the second quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 162,861 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,319,000 after purchasing an additional 162,699 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on AOS shares. StockNews.com raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $97.00 to $98.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of A. O. Smith 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,399 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,319. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $90.59 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.07. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1-year low of $64.86 and a 1-year high of $92.44. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $82.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.00. The company has a market capitalization of $13.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.47, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.15.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.07 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 31.04% and a net margin of 14.67%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.16%.

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.