Vontobel Holding Ltd. Lowers Holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. trimmed its position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS – Get Rating) by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 407,928 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 105,688 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned 0.26% of A. O. Smith worth $19,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 121,704 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,912,000 after buying an additional 3,161 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 168,294 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,195,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 37.1% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 12,501 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 3,381 shares in the last quarter. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 22.3% in the 3rd quarter. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc now owns 104,314 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,068,000 after acquiring an additional 19,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 55,205 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,681,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. 77.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of AOS stock opened at $60.67 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.24. A. O. Smith Co. has a fifty-two week low of $46.58 and a fifty-two week high of $78.92.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69. The business had revenue of $874.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $874.04 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 27.67% and a net margin of 12.99%. The company’s revenue was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 31st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 30th. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.10%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on AOS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on A. O. Smith from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 19th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on A. O. Smith from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 20th. Citigroup boosted their price target on A. O. Smith from $50.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.75.

A. O. Smith Profile

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A. O. Smith Corporation manufactures and markets residential and commercial gas, heat pump and electric water heaters, boilers, tanks, and water treatment products in North America, China, Europe, and India. It operates through two segments, North America and Rest of World. The company offers water heaters for residences, restaurants, hotels and motels, office buildings, laundries, car washes, and small businesses; commercial boilers for hospitals, schools, hotels, and other large commercial buildings, as well as residential boilers for homes, apartments, and condominiums; and water treatment products comprising point-of-entry water softeners, well water solutions, and whole-home water filtration products, on-the-go filtration bottles, point-of-use carbon, and reverse osmosis products for residences, restaurants, hotels, and offices.