Cwm LLC Acquires 4,414 Shares of A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS

Cwm LLC grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) by 52.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,789 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 4,414 shares during the period. Cwm LLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AOS. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 67.3% during the first quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,188,561 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $339,124,000 after buying an additional 2,086,433 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 998.6% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,348,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $88,121,000 after buying an additional 1,225,521 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 35.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,670,567 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $109,187,000 after buying an additional 438,291 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 62.3% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,088,103 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $71,118,000 after buying an additional 417,667 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,211,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at A. O. Smith

In other news, Chairman Kevin J. Wheeler sold 22,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $1,581,972.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 100,647 shares in the company, valued at $7,172,105.22. The trade was a 18.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 3.9%

A. O. Smith stock opened at $68.20 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.60. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 12 month low of $58.83 and a 12 month high of $80.24. The company has a market capitalization of $9.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.30.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.10. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.42% and a net margin of 13.68%.The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $997.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.06 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $0.36 dividend. This is an increase from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on A. O. Smith from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.00.

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.