A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Acquired by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 23.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 23,145 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 4,400 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $1,579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,117,943 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $962,985,000 after acquiring an additional 148,432 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.0% in the 3rd 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. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,586,905 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $321,348,000 after purchasing an additional 52,593 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,648,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $112,467,000 after buying an additional 471,990 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at about $96,180,000. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at A. O. Smith

In other news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $67,356.90. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $583,562.85. The trade was a 10.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $27,507.35. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,471.85. The trade was a 13.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:AOS opened at $66.21 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.55. The company has a market capitalization of $9.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $66.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.67. A. O. Smith Co. has a 52 week low of $64.24 and a 52 week high of $92.45.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 28.87%. On average, research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is 37.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AOS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Saturday, March 22nd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.86.

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.