A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS Shares Bought by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) by 68.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 31,073 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,612 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $2,049,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,096,018 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,009,622,000 after acquiring an additional 683,176 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,911,495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $395,361,000 after purchasing an additional 458,257 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in A. O. Smith by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,559,612 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $304,947,000 after purchasing an additional 37,621 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in A. O. Smith by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,909,395 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $194,581,000 after purchasing an additional 101,453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,344,631 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $156,809,000 after purchasing an additional 60,260 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AOS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $61.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target (down from $65.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price objective on A. O. Smith and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Weiss Ratings cut A. O. Smith from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on A. O. Smith from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $67.75.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 0.3%

A. O. Smith stock opened at $63.02 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $8.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.17. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 52 week low of $54.16 and a 52 week high of $81.86.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $994.89 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 13.15%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.700-3.850 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.00%.

A. O. Smith Company Profile

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.