Lazard Asset Management LLC Sells 598 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Lazard Asset Management LLC cut its stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS – Get Rating) by 15.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,368 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 598 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $163,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth approximately $66,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the second quarter worth approximately $87,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 48.7% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,721 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the period. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in A. O. Smith during the second quarter valued at approximately $137,000. 77.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AOS has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. Loop Capital lowered shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $67.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 20th. TheStreet lowered shares of A. O. Smith from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other A. O. Smith news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 12,283 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.31, for a total transaction of $826,768.73. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $768,141.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other A. O. Smith news, Director Ajita G. Rajendra sold 39,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.02, for a total transaction of $2,776,882.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,783,699.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 12,283 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.31, for a total transaction of $826,768.73. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,141.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 57,883 shares of company stock worth $4,053,126 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE AOS opened at $68.13 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $63.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market cap of $10.28 billion, a PE ratio of 45.42, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.27. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12 month low of $46.58 and a 12 month high of $71.87.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $936.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $913.51 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 6.28% and a return on equity of 27.54%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 30th. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 80.00%.

A. O. Smith Company Profile

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A. O. Smith Corp. manufactures residential and commercial gas and electric water heaters, boilers, tanks, and water treatment products. It operates through the following two segments: North America and Rest of World. The North America segment manufactures and markets comprehensive lines of residential and commercial gas and electric water heaters, boilers, tanks.