Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys 32,848 Shares of A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) by 60.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 87,081 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,848 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.06% of A. O. Smith worth $5,742,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.0% during the first quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 65,470 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,317,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 299.3% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 13,348 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $880,000 after acquiring an additional 10,005 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 158,616 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,459,000 after acquiring an additional 29,787 shares in the last quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 517,733 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,139,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its position in A. O. Smith by 41.5% during the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 9,384 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $608,000 after acquiring an additional 2,753 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on AOS. DA Davidson set a $67.00 target price on A. O. Smith and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target (down from $65.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research downgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price objective on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $61.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $69.33.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 2.7%

NYSE AOS opened at $58.92 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $58.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.93. A. O. Smith Corporation has a 12 month low of $54.16 and a 12 month high of $81.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.12 billion, a PE ratio of 15.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $945.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $974.06 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.42% and a net margin of 13.84%.A. O. Smith’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.600-3.900 EPS. On average, analysts expect that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.30%.

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.