102,842 Shares in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Bought by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 102,842 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,015,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.07% of A. O. Smith as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter worth about $55,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 4th quarter worth about $60,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter worth about $82,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 4th quarter worth about $123,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AOS shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Saturday. StockNews.com upgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.86.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 0.4 %

AOS opened at $66.47 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.31. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1-year low of $64.55 and a 1-year high of $92.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. Analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $27,507.35. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,471.85. The trade was a 13.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $67,356.90. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $583,562.85. The trade was a 10.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

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.