Vontobel Holding Ltd. Has $34 Million Holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lowered its stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 498,525 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 752 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned approximately 0.34% of A. O. Smith worth $34,004,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth about $43,000. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on AOS. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Saturday, February 1st. StockNews.com upgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, DA Davidson lowered A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.86.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 0.3 %

AOS stock opened at $66.22 on Friday. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1-year low of $64.55 and a 1-year high of $92.44. The firm has a market cap of $9.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.17. The business’s 50 day moving average is $69.10 and its 200-day moving average is $75.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 28.87%. Equities analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $67,356.90. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $583,562.85. This represents a 10.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $27,507.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,749 shares in the company, valued at $180,471.85. The trade was a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Company Profile

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