New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $5.70 Million Position in A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS)

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its position in shares of A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) by 9.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 87,128 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 9,610 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.06% of A. O. Smith worth $5,695,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,117,943 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $962,985,000 after purchasing an additional 148,432 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,704,295 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $320,880,000 after purchasing an additional 995,043 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,698,517 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $251,751,000 after purchasing an additional 111,612 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,618,191 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $178,587,000 after buying an additional 417,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in A. O. Smith by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,444,338 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $166,728,000 after buying an additional 236,880 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 0.2%

AOS stock opened at $67.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $66.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.60. A. O. Smith Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $58.83 and a fifty-two week high of $92.45.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $963.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $950.56 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.39% and a net margin of 13.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. Analysts expect that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Citigroup cut their target price on A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on A. O. Smith in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.29.

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.