A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS Shares Sold by MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB

MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB reduced its position in A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 226,241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 10,220 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB owned 0.16% of A. O. Smith worth $15,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AOS. Rothschild Investment LLC increased its position in A. O. Smith by 3,125.0% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 387 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 988.9% in the second quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP now owns 490 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 67.9% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AOS. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $69.00 price target on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $78.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $85.00 price target on A. O. Smith and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Insider Transactions at A. O. Smith

In related news, SVP Darrell W. Schuh sold 1,104 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,201 shares in the company, valued at $163,732.39. This trade represents a 33.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AOS opened at $64.01 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $73.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.44. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 1-year low of $58.83 and a 1-year high of $81.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.33.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $912.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.97 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 29.51%. A. O. Smith’s revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 37.31%.

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.