Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 38,694 Shares of A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,871,694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 38,694 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 1.34% of A. O. Smith worth $137,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AOS. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its position in A. O. Smith by 3,125.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 387 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new position in A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 988.9% during the 2nd quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP now owns 490 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $69.00 price objective on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $78.00 price target (up from $72.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Darrell W. Schuh sold 1,104 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $82,126.56. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,201 shares in the company, valued at $163,732.39. This represents a 33.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $69.86 on Wednesday. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 52-week low of $58.83 and a 52-week high of $81.86. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.33.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.06. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 29.51% and a net margin of 14.26%.The business had revenue of $912.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is currently 37.31%.

A. O. Smith Company Profile

A. O. Smith Corporation, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a leading manufacturer of water heating and water treatment products for residential and commercial applications. Since its founding in 1874, the company has built a reputation for producing reliable, energy-efficient water heaters, boilers and pressure vessels. Its product portfolio encompasses gas, electric, condensing and tankless water heaters, as well as specialty boilers designed to meet a variety of building and industrial needs.

The company operates through two primary segments: North America and Asia.