Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 97,531 Shares of A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) by 44.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 319,113 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 97,531 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned 0.23% of A. O. Smith worth $23,426,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AOS. Ameriflex Group Inc. grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 129.4% during the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 1,633 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 921 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in A. O. Smith by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,508,947 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $184,182,000 after purchasing an additional 109,654 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $265,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $200,000. Finally, IFG Advisory LLC boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 32,682 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,399,000 after purchasing an additional 7,302 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $85.00 target price on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $78.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.00.

Insider Activity at A. O. Smith

In other news, SVP Darrell W. Schuh sold 1,104 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 33.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of AOS opened at $68.13 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.33. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 1 year low of $58.83 and a 1 year high of $81.86. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

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 net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 29.51%. The firm had revenue of $912.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.97 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. A. O. Smith’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.31%.

About A. O. Smith

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.