Unigestion Holding SA Reduces Position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Unigestion Holding SA decreased its position in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 153,541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 49,669 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA owned 0.11% of A. O. Smith worth $13,793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AOS. Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at $78,766,000. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its position in A. O. Smith by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $315,055,000 after purchasing an additional 400,304 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in A. O. Smith by 92.4% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 761,410 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,397,000 after purchasing an additional 365,710 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased 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 period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at about $24,060,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AOS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson cut A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.29.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

NYSE:AOS opened at $72.98 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. A. O. Smith Co. has a fifty-two week low of $70.73 and a fifty-two week high of $92.44. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.79. The stock has a market cap of $10.58 billion, a PE ratio of 19.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.16.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82. The company had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $960.36 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 30.09%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This is an increase from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 35.79%.

A. O. Smith Profile

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.