Quantinno Capital Management LP Acquires 36,234 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 162.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 58,489 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 36,234 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $3,990,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AOS. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,180,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings 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 worth $320,880,000 after purchasing an additional 995,043 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,648,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $112,467,000 after purchasing an additional 471,990 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $178,587,000 after purchasing an additional 417,595 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 133.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 547,410 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $37,339,000 after purchasing an additional 312,492 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AOS. Robert W. Baird increased 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. UBS Group lowered their target price on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

A. O. Smith stock opened at $70.51 on Monday. A. O. Smith Co. has a twelve month low of $58.83 and a twelve month high of $92.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $10.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.42, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $65.68 and its 200 day moving average is $68.51.

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

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.99%.

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.