A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Stock Holdings Lifted by CIBC Asset Management Inc

CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,721 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,110 shares during the quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $1,592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AOS. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,240 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 12.2% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,002 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 434 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 6.3% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 6,403 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $575,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 19.8% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 812 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,176,835 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $105,715,000 after acquiring an additional 21,094 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AOS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson lowered A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 1.0 %

AOS stock opened at $71.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a PE ratio of 18.79, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.17. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1 year low of $71.04 and a 1 year high of $92.44. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. The company had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This is a positive change from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.79%.

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.