A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Purchased by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 30.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 170,567 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,527 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $14,060,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 94.4% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 548,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,350,000 after purchasing an additional 266,558 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in A. O. Smith by 460.9% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 264,514 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,492,000 after buying an additional 217,356 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in A. O. Smith by 30.3% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 769,447 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,884,000 after buying an additional 178,707 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in A. O. Smith by 63.8% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 454,446 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,053,000 after buying an additional 176,987 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,038,837 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $200,958,000 after acquiring an additional 133,339 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Idelle K. Wolf sold 814 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $65,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 46,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,691,200. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Idelle K. Wolf sold 814 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $65,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 46,140 shares in the company, valued at $3,691,200. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.63, for a total value of $836,990.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 9,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,176.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 95,631 shares of company stock worth $8,042,535. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

AOS opened at $84.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.06. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1-year low of $63.88 and a 1-year high of $89.96. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $85.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.22.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $978.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.91 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.94% and a net margin of 14.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that A. O. Smith Co. will post 4.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on A. O. Smith from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com lowered A. O. Smith from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.67.

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.