Loudon Investment Management LLC Reduces Stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Loudon Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,996 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. Loudon Investment Management LLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AOS. State Street Corp lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 4.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,721,581 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $693,630,000 after purchasing an additional 299,766 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,586,905 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $321,348,000 after purchasing an additional 52,593 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 3.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302,659 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $206,848,000 after purchasing an additional 87,458 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,648,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $112,467,000 after purchasing an additional 471,990 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,231,084 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,972,000 after purchasing an additional 12,305 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AOS. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Friday, March 7th. StockNews.com upgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup dropped their target price on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, A. O. Smith currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.86.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 1.2 %

A. O. Smith stock opened at $66.76 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.39, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. A. O. Smith Co. has a fifty-two week low of $64.55 and a fifty-two week high of $92.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $67.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.55.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. Equities research analysts forecast 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 Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.47%.

Insider Activity at A. O. Smith

In related news, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $27,507.35. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,471.85. This represents a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $67,356.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $583,562.85. This represents a 10.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.