A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Sold by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC lowered its stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,975 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,028 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $885,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in A. O. Smith by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,117,943 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $962,985,000 after acquiring an additional 148,432 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in A. O. Smith by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,704,295 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $320,880,000 after acquiring an additional 995,043 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in A. O. Smith by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,698,517 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $251,751,000 after acquiring an additional 111,612 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in A. O. Smith by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,618,191 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $178,587,000 after acquiring an additional 417,595 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in A. O. Smith by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,058,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $140,426,000 after acquiring an additional 70,989 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Saturday, May 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, A. O. Smith has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of AOS opened at $67.01 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12-month low of $58.83 and a 12-month high of $92.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $65.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $963.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $950.56 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 28.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.99%.

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.