Willis Investment Counsel Buys 13,453 Shares of A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS

Willis Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) by 42.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,511 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 13,453 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $3,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Oak Thistle LLC increased its holdings in A. O. Smith by 230.1% during the fourth quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 36,077 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,413,000 after buying an additional 25,147 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new position in A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $326,000. Westwood Wealth Management purchased a new position in A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $635,000. eCIO Inc. purchased a new position in A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new position in A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $246,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AOS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $69.00 price objective on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $85.00 price objective on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $78.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Friday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $75.00 price objective on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.00.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

NYSE AOS opened at $66.78 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.83 and a 12-month high of $81.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.35.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $912.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.97 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 29.51%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at A. O. Smith

In other news, SVP Darrell W. Schuh sold 1,104 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $82,126.56. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,732.39. The trade was a 33.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.