JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 139,117 Shares of A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) by 26.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 665,793 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 139,117 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.48% of A. O. Smith worth $48,876,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AOS. Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 3,125.0% in the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 387 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 988.9% during the 2nd 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 acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 67.9% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AOS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $69.00 target price on A. O. Smith and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $77.00 target price on A. O. Smith in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. Two 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Darrell W. Schuh sold 1,104 shares of the company’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 directly owned 2,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,732.39. This represents a 33.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

AOS stock opened at $64.01 on Friday. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.44. The company has a market capitalization of $8.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.33. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 52-week low of $58.83 and a 52-week high of $81.86.

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

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were given 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 of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.31%.

A. O. Smith 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.