Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Purchases 64,648 Shares of A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) by 224.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 93,447 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 64,648 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $6,860,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,045,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter valued at $386,000. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,837,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,265,091 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $82,952,000 after purchasing an additional 13,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter worth $750,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AOS has been the subject of several recent research reports. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $75.00 price objective on A. O. Smith and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $78.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Friday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $77.00 target price on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.00.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AOS opened at $80.46 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $11.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.36. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 52-week low of $58.83 and a 52-week high of $80.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $70.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.06.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $912.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio 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.